Run away
by his querida
Summary: AU R/S What will happen when steph runs away when she's 19 and gets caught up with people she doesn't want to know. Except one. What happens when they meet again years later? First Fanfic so please be nice but please R & R
1. Burning tears

I walked slowly out of the dining room, hoping that the tension in my shoulders was not visible as I struggled to keep my shoulders relaxed

**Chapter 1- Burning Tears**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Janet Evanovich's ideas or characters_

I walked slowly out of the dining room, hoping that the tension in my shoulders was not visible as I struggled to keep my shoulders relaxed. I felt the tears burn at the back of my eyes, starting to blur my vision and constrict my throat so I couldn't speak if I had tried. As soon as I was out of sight though, I ran up the stairs silently, only letting the bare balls of my feet hit the ground as I sped up the staircase. 

As soon as I reached my room, I collapsed on my bed and let my tears that were burning me overflow as a noisy sob twisted out of me. I let another sob rip out of me before I stuffed my face further into my bed and choked back the sobs that wanted to come out of me. I would not allow my family to see me in this state, let them see me less than certain of myself, not in anyway in control. And even more than that, I wouldn't let them see how deep there words could cut. 

After attempting to muffle a few more sobs in, I knew I wasn't going to get enough control to remain unnoticed. Not thinking of anything other than getting away, I quickly climbed onto the roof and down to the ground, and I starting sprinting away from the house, not noticing where I went as long as it was away the house that held all my pain. 


	2. Down a Strange Street

**Chapter 2- Down a strange street**

_a/n sorry if this wasn't clear before, but this is set when steph was around 19 years old_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Janet Evanovich's ideas or characters_

I kept running, dimly aware now that the landscape had changed from the suburban peacefulness that I had previous been flying out of to a crammed city area. The lighting kept changing too. One moment, I would be in a brightly lit street, the next what I could guess was a low lit back alley. I never consciously made that the observations but they filtered through at the back of my mind. 

Numbly, I realised I was being annoyed. What was more annoying, I couldn't figure out why. I slowed down my run, concentrating on what was frustrating me. Then I heard it. It was that stupid ringtone that Mary-Lou had put on my phone as a joke. At the time when I'd discovered it when she called me, I had thought it was hilarious, if not embarrassing because she'd called when I was in the middle of a crowded train. Now, it made me yelp in frustration as I realised I'd left it in the pocket of my jeans. 

I quickly grabbed the phone from my pocket, just to stop its ringing, and looked at the display to see who was calling. It was home. I stared at the phone and waited it out. Eventually the phone stopped ringing, but I didn't stop staring at it. Sure enough, a moment later it started ringing again. Valerie calling. The phone stopped. Then started ringing. Mum again. The phone stopped. Mary-Lou calling. As the phone stopped this time, I screamed and threw it away and with satisfaction watched it smash on the asphalt. I sighed in relief and set off down the street at a slower pace. It was only then I noticed when I took note of where I was going. 

It looked like I was in the middle of the city, from the looks down a less than favourable street. If I was feeling smart and normal, I would have stopped and ran straight back home. But I wasn't. I was angry and sad and this was exactly where my parents wouldn't like me to be. So that's where I went. I continued down the street. 


	3. Deadly gaze

Chapter 3-

**Chapter 3- Deadly Gaze**

_a/n guys… 460 hits, 2 reviews… please help me out here I want this story to be good! And here's the deal. You guys review me and I'll put up chapter 4 today as well! Big thanks though to Stephannie1014! Enjoy guys!_

**Disclaimer: unfortunately, I do not own the wonderful Janet Evanovich's characters**

I walked for a fair while, until I felt I had walked miles. But I doubted it. I was probably just walking around in circles. I shivered, getting cold, and looked around. I figured it must be around 2 or 3 in the morning and less and less people were walking out and around. And the few that were around looked shady, slipping her second glances very regularly. After meeting one man's gaze she refused to look at any others, knowing that they'd be the same. Full of hungry lust and alcohol. 

Starting to get my common sense back, as I pushed back my emotions in my long walk, I walked into a all night bar, willing to wait the night out and return in the morning when I felt the streets safe again. I walked into the bar and if I wasn't more afraid of the streets, I would have walked straight back out. The entire club oozed sleazy, and worse, reeked of everything in a man I had been taught to fear. 

I stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans, looking for something to buy a drink with. I had just found a 5 dollar bill in my pocket when I felt a hand graze up my thigh, over my ass and stopped to rest his hand on her lower back. I turned around, shocked for some reason that he dared touch me like that. He grabbed my wrist when I turned away from him and pulled me so I was against his chest. He put his lips to my ear and said 'can I buy you a drink beautiful'. I pulled at my hand and said 'no. Now let go of my hand!' he just smiled at me and said 'and why would I do that?' I pulled harder at my hand then slapped him with the other one. He let go out of shock and I quickly ran out of the bar.

I had no sooner gone out the doors then I was grabbed from behind. I was pulled into a chest and found myself staring into the cold eyes of the man I slapped. He smiled tightly and pulled me towards a car. I screamed at him and fought him, scratching and hitting and slapping but eventually he just shoved me into his car, punching me in the face as he did. I reeled back and tasted blood and sat there, dazed. I felt something cold touch my wrist and when I'd regained my sense again I saw I was cuffed in his car. He got in the front seat and turned and grinned at me. 'There's going to be a lot of fun to be had tonight'.

At that I started screaming again, not caring in the slightest way that I seemed to be annoying him. After a minute of this, he growled and pulled over and grabbed something from the other seat that I couldn't see. With another angry growl, he stomped around to my door and ripped it open. I spit at his face and he punched me again. Again dazed, I barely felt the cloth pressed roughly against my mouth before everything went black.

_So what did you guys think? Yes, Ranger is coming in to it soon. Review me and let me know! Don't forget our deal, you press that purple button and the bottom of the page and review me and I'll put up chapter 4 today! Hope I hear from you and happy Easter. Ciao. _


	4. hopelessness and hope

Chapter 4- helplessness and hope

**Chapter 4- helplessness and hope**

_a/n a big thankyou to ALL of my reviewers: __Stephannie1014__farmland__Ranger's Fanfictional Cat__Cokkii__bebapcc__mybrowneyes__JiggyT__ and __celes2tial__ and chef-angel-babe_

_for those of you who thought you were being to harsh or whatever, I don't know what replies you got in the past to think that! It was all really helpful! Thanks a bunch!_

**Disclaimer: I own none of Janet Evanovich's fabulous characters, much to my dismay**

I woke to loud voices speaking, which hardly helped the throbbing headache that I had. I tried to move into a more comfortable position, before quickly realising I couldn't. I looked down to see that both my wrists and ankles were bound with thick rope. 

I struggled for a moment before collapsing against the chair. I couldn't really remember yesterday yet, so I concentrated on the voices. 'I have a surprise for you today Ranger. I think you're going to like it too.' I stiffened at the familiar voice, every detail of last night returning to my mind. 

I felt a sob rip out of me before I realized I was crying, knowing exactly what they were thinking of doing to me.

I forced myself to remain silent, for the second time in two days. I heard the footsteps approaching. 'oh really now, and what would that be Hamos?' I shuddered as I heard them arrive outside the door. 'this,' I heard him say with a smirk, opening the door at the same time.

I looked up at them both defiantly, though I knew that tears were dripping down my face. I ignored them and continued to glare at them. The taller one, the one I hadn't met, stood at the doorway, staring at me for a moment and I could see the desire on his face, as well as other emotions that I didn't dare to decipher. 

As soon as I saw the desire, I couldn't stop myself from shuddering and looking away, unable to stare down the man. 'leave Hamos,' I heard the still unfamiliar voice say. I shuddered again as I heard the door open and close.

RPOV

Hamos walked up to me with a grin on his face. I looked at him and smiled back. It was still early in the morning and he'd obviously spent the night drinking himself under the table. 

'Ranger, walk with me.' I sighed, but followed him, wondering what in the world he wanted. We'd walked for a while before he spoke again. 'I have a surprise for you today Ranger. I think you're going to like it too.' 

I raised an eyebrow at the man, wondering what classified as a surprise for him and replied sarcastically, 'oh really now, and what would that be Hamos?' he smirked at me, recognising my tone even through his drunk stupor, and opened the door. 'this.'

I looked in the room lazily then felt myself stiffen with shock. A young girl was bound to the chair in the room, a bruise blooming on her cheek. Though I probably shouldn't say 'young' girl because she looked to be about my age. And she was beautiful. And not in the plastic way I had gotten used to. 

She had gorgeous curly brown hair, mussed now, wide open sapphire blue eyes, which now were filled with fear and anger and hopelessness and defiance. So many emotions dancing in her eyes for everyone to see. She was so beautiful and I knew exactly what Hamos was thinking I would do to her. 

I looked at her beautiful, tear ridden face and after a second of openly defying us, she looked down. This poor girl was so scared I was going to rape her. 

But I had never touched an unwilling woman, and that wasn't going to change. Without turning my gaze from the girl in front of me, I said 'leave Hamos.' He smirked again and quickly left.

SPOV

Still not looking at his face, I watched as his feet came closer to me. He knelt down and grabbed my chin and his hand before I could turn away. He raised my chin softly to make me look him in the eye. But I couldn't, so I just closed them. I could feel my entire form trembling, terrified out of my mind.

He was silent for a moment, then I heard his voice speak to me softly, 'listen to me, querida, I'm not going to harm you. I'm not going to touch you except to get you out of here.'

I couldn't believe him. How could I? It was clearly a lie. I didn't reply and he let go of my chin and reached around to my bound hands, hastily untying the rope there. 'I'm not going to harm you querida,' he murmured softly in my ear when he felt me trembling. 

To my surprise, my body believed him and my trembling stopped.

He knelt in front of me to untie my ankles. I heard him murmur to me again 'understand, querida, that I have never harmed a woman. This was Hamos'…surprise for me. I might be in the wrong crowd,' he admitted ruefully, 'but I've never harmed a woman and I don't plan on starting.'

I looked into his eyes, looking for truth, really looking at him for the first time. He was clearly of Cuban heritage, with dark skin and dark hair that was hanging loose down to his shoulders. If I wasn't terrified, I would be completely turned on and even in this state I wasn't completely unaffected. 

He had a well toned body, but not particularly muscular. I looked back into his eyes and saw sincerity shining out of them, though the lust was still there, though he had clearly pushed it back.

Making a decision, I held out a heavily shaking hand. He gave me a small smile and took it, pulling me up, with a little too much force so that I was pulled too far and was pressed against his chest. Reminded of the other man, I felt the trembling go through my entire body again. He released me so I wasn't pressed against him but still held in his grasp. He put his lips to my ear and I trembled yet again at the reminder. 

'I'm not going to hurt you babe, but I need your co-operation, ok?' I just nodded, still trembling. He removed one hand from my arm and seemed to subconsciously run it through my now knotty hair. 'I need you to stay absolutely silent and when I tell you to do something, do it. You're going to have to trust me to get us both out of here, ok babe?'

I looked up at him in surprise. 'you're leaving too?' I blurted out before I could think. Then I bit my lip, not sure how he would take my outburst. He laughed quietly and whispered, 'yes, I wasn't lying, I'm not into this and this was the last straw.'

I was stunned but something within me told me to trust him so I trusted my gut.

'ok. I trust you.' He looked down at me, clearly surprised. His eyes searched mine for something and after a moment, softened. 'I will get you out babe.' I graced him with a tiny smile and he pulled me towards the door.

_a/n so, like it? Or not? Let me know and press that button that says 'submit review'. You know you wanna._


	5. Escape

Chapter 6-

**Chapter 6- Escape **

_a/n Thanks for the fabulous reviews guys- it really does help this story get better!! _

**Disclaimer: the characters in this story belong to the fabulous Janet Evanovich **

As we reached the door, he reached to the small of his back and pulled a gun I didn't even notice. I felt myself stiffen the slightest. This was the first time I had seen a gun. He must have felt the increased tension in my hand because he looked back and turned the hand that held my hand and brushed my cheek softly. 'I swear I'm not going to hurt you. You have no reason to believe me but I swear it.'

I cleared my throat, but when I spoke, my voice was still hoarse. 'I'm sorry…I've never seen a gun before, it made me nervous.' He smiled and dropped his hand from my face, giving my hand a light squeeze. He turned back to the door and opened it minutely. He stuck his head out and looked both ways before pulling me through the door. I looked at the hall and saw that the only windows were very high, much like the room I had just been in.

He pulled me through the hallways and pulled me quickly through the different corridors. Everything was going smoothly until we ran into one of his, for lack of better word, friends. Luckily, he was drunk. Ranger, as I just remembered his name to be, just kept walking towards him, though I noticed his grip tighten and his demeanour change. I was a little frightened, but concentrated on what I had seen in his eyes when he asked me to trust him.

His friend noticed us as we got closer and grinned and stumbled towards us. 'Ranger! What have you got here?' I felt his grip tighten on mine, but I couldn't see his face because I was directly behind him. 'Nothing for you to concern yourself with. Get your drunk ass to bed.' But being drunk was his downfall as he couldn't hear the menace in Ranger's voice that would of scared the shit out of me had it been directed at me. 'But she's so preeeeeety. Don't you want to share?' he actually growled at that and used the until now unnoticed gun to rap him sharply on the head. The other man collapsed in a lump at his feet.

Ranger pulled at my hand again and pulled me through another door into a hall. I could see the door now. I heard a sound behind us and I gasped and spun. What had to be the biggest man I had ever seen had just walked through the door and looked at us, looking as startled as we were.

Ranger pulled me behind him and trained his gun on the stranger. 'Tank,' he said, sounding somewhat relaxed and calm. The man still looked confused, especially at the sight of having the gun trained on him and me behind him. 'Ranger?' he said, seeming to be uncertain. Ranger spoke again, this time menace dripping off every word he spoke. 'Did you know about this Tank?'

Tank looked puzzled for a moment, his eyes continually switching between Ranger, the gun and me. His eyes were flicking away from me again when suddenly they trained back on me, lingering at the bruise on my cheek and my bedraggled appearance. He mouth quite literally dropped and if I hadn't been terrified, I would have been highly amused to see the goldfish impression that the hulk was doing.

His eyes flicked back to Rangers. 'Ranger…I haven't… I wouldn't…' he seemed at a loss for words and his eyes focused on me again. I looked down, not willing to meet the agonised man's eyes. I heard him speak again. 'Did they…'

'No,' Ranger replied in disgust. I looked up at him and realized his gun was no longer trained on the stranger. I looked back up at the other man, his eyes were still on me. 'That honour was left to me.' Tank's eyes left mine then and widened as they looked at Ranger. 'They thought she would be a nice…treat for me.' I shuddered at that and I felt Ranger's grip tighten, reassuring.

'You leaving man?'

'Yes.' There was silence for a moment.

'Alright man, we'll meet at the usual place tomorrow, ok? Figure out where to go from there.' From the corner of my eye, I saw Ranger nod. Then, from behind Tank, another man appeared. I let out a helpless gasp, and Tank reached behind him and hit the man standing behind him so that he crashed into the wall.

'We have to go,' Ranger said quickly, 'I'll see you in a few days.' The other man nodded and left through the door he came through. I twisted quickly to check we were alone and in the process, felt a stabbing pain go through my shoulder. I let out a gasp and my legs collapsed beneath me.

Ranger hadn't relaxed his grip on my hand so was able to stop me from hitting the ground. He raised his gun again and shot at some unknown thing before scooping me up in his arms. His eyes widened when he put his arms around my shoulder and I winced at the sudden flare of pain in my shoulders. He gently moved me, while walking towards the door, so that my back was in easy view for him.

RPOV

I heard a sound behind us, followed by the girl's gasp as we both spun. Tank was staring at us dumbstruck at the doorway as I trained my gun on him as I pushed the girl behind me, not sure who to trust anymore.

'Tank,' I said, forcing my voice to remain calm, though I knew my eyes were giving me away, and Tank knew me well enough to see it. He was looking at me with confusion, not so much worried at the gun in my hand, knowing me well enough that I wouldn't truly use it. 'Ranger?' Tank said, his brow furrowed in trying to figure out what he did to make me so angry. I spoke again, not bothering to conceal my emotions. 'Did you know about this Tank?'

Tank looked puzzled for a moment, his eyes continually switching between me and the girl behind me. His eyes were flickering towards me again when they suddenly trained on the girl behind me. After a few moments of staring at the girl, his mouth quite literally dropped. It was one of the rare times I had seen absolute shock on his face.

His eyes flicked back to mine. 'Ranger…I haven't… I wouldn't…' he seemed at a loss for words and his eyes focused on me again. I lowered my gun at the shock in his voice. It had been unreasonable for me to think he would be in on this shit. We stared at each other for a moment, measuring each other's expressions. Finally, Tank broke the silence. 'Did they…'

'No,' I replied quickly, not completely hiding my disgust. 'That honour was left to me.' Tank's eyes left darted back to mine, leaving the girl's as they widened. 'They thought she would be a nice…treat for me.' I felt the girl behind me shudder and I squeezed her hand.

'You leaving man?'

'Yes.' There was silence for a moment.

'Alright man, we'll meet at the usual place tomorrow, ok? Figure out where to go from there.' I nodded, silently thanking him for not mentioning anything out loud. Tank nodded back. From behind him Mario appeared. Without having to say a word, Tank easily threw him into a wall.

'We have to go,' I said quickly, 'I'll see you in a few days.' Tank nodded and left through the door he came through. I felt the girl twist in my grasp before gasping and going limp.

Thankfully, I hadn't relaxed my grip on her hand so was able to stop her from hitting the ground as she hastily fell. I turned quickly to see some man I barely knew, except by reputation. He had a rep for using knives and playing dirty. Without hesitation, I raised my gun and shot at him, watching him fall to the ground before scooping the girl in my arms.

I felt my hands connect something wet and sticky and felt my eyes widen. I heard her wince at the same moment. As gently as possible, I moved her so I could inspect her back.

SPOV

I heard him curse under his breath in what sounded like Spanish and moved me so I was comfortably lying in his arms, my shoulder untouched. He opened the door somehow; I think he may have kicked it open. I winced, in pain now that I noticed it. He was silent for a moment then said 'it's going to be ok.' I nodded and he put me into the front seat of a car I hadn't even noticed approaching. After I was seated, he moved to his side of the car and slid in.

He drove speedily away, and I was too tired to even think to note where we were. My shoulder was throbbing now and every now and then he would glance at me. Needing to distract myself from my shoulder I asked, 'aren't they going to be angry at you for this?' to my surprise, he laughed and then sighed, 'if they figure out what happened they'll probably be out for my blood. It doesn't matter.'

I knew when the topic was being dismissed but my burning curiosity couldn't be sated that easily. 'why? Where are you going?' he was silent for a moment and I thought he wasn't going to answer, when he said, 'the army probably. I need to straighten myself out.' He looked at me. 'It wasn't until I saw you bound and scared shitless that I realized what sort of people the people I called my friends were.' I smiled at him, trying my best to concentrate on him and ignore my shoulder. 'Glad to be of service.'

He gave me a small smile but was silent for a moment as he stared at me. 'make sure you tell them about Hamos, he can't get away with this. If he did this to you, he probably has done it to others.' I shivered at the thought of what those unfortunate women had to go through.

'what do I tell them about you?' he was silent. 'the truth. They already know that I run around Hamos, they already know I'm involved. They may as well know I didn't do anything.' He was silent for a moment. 'I'd appreciate it if you left out everything from when we met Tank though.'

I nodded, starting to feel my lids get heavier. 'ok then.' It was silent for a moment again and I felt my eyelids fluttering before I heard a commanding voice. 'stay with me babe. Don't go to sleep.' I forced my eyelids open and winced as I felt a new bout of pain rush through me.

He flicked concerned eyes to mine and gently and tentatively reached and grasped my hand in support. 'Tell me why you were on such a nasty street in the first place,' he said softly. I looked over at him. His eyes were on the road, but they looked distracted, obviously waiting for an answer.

I let out a little sigh, and I felt a little bit of sadness come over me as I thought of why I had run away. 'My parents…' I started slowly. But that wasn't right. I took a breath and started again. 'Where I live, there is a certain way our parents expect us to grow up. If you're a woman, the ultimate life goal is to get married to some Burg guy, get a job at the Button factory, pop out 2.5 kids and become the best housewife in the Burg.'

I stopped for a moment, not knowing how to continue. 'my parents…more my mother really… have always been disappointed that I didn't seem to be heading in the 'right' direction.' I smiled slightly, 'when I was a kid, I jumped of the roof of the shed because I wanted to fly. I wanted to be Wonder Woman.' I felt my smile fade, 'I've always been a disappointment to them, they are constantly asking me why I can't be my sister, why can't I be perfect.'

I felt old tears return to my eyes. 'Last night my mother asked me why I was so useless. If I couldn't cook and couldn't get a man to marry me, what was the use of me? What was even the point of my life? The point of taking me to the hospital every time I tried to fly?'

I felt tears go down my cheeks, feeling the words cut open wounds as I spoke them and heard them again and would have brushed them away but one arm was throbbing painfully and the other hand was being held captive by his. 'I know it doesn't sound like much, but after years of it, it hurts and cuts deep.'

His hand lifted mine and brushed the tears away. 'I'm sorry babe. I hope things get better soon. Maybe there is something positive to all this.'

At this I couldn't hold in the incredulous snort and he roared with laughter. 'Really. Maybe this will make them realize how much they love you the way you are.' I smiled but it was weak, and I could feel it. I didn't believe what he said at all. I was about to reply when I suddenly saw black.

_a/n there you go, nice and long chapter for you. And you know what made it that long? All those reviews. Honestly, half the questions you asked I hadn't even thought to answer so keep those reviews coming in! Thanks a Bunch! Ciao. Layla._


	6. Goodbyes

Chapter 8-

**Chapter 7- Goodbyes**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, none of these characters belong to me…. Sigh … if only **

_a/n Thanks to all my reviewers again! I love you guys!_

RPOV

As I watched her, her head lolled to the side. Shit. She was unconscious. I sped even faster into the centre of town. As I got to the hospital, I rushed to her side as soon as I stopped and pulled her out, holding her carefully in my arms. I walked as fast as I could without jostling her into the hospital.

As I entered the emergency room, a nurse looked up and her eyes widened as she took in the unconscious girl in my grasp. She rushed over to us and led us to a room. As I placed her on the bed, a doctor walked in and immediately starting firing off questions. And I couldn't even answer the first one.

'What's her name,' the doctor said quickly, snapping on medical gloves. I opened my mouth to answer then snapped it shut. 'I don't know,' I said incredulously. I can't believe, after all that, I didn't know her name. The doctor looked up at me sharply, but then continued.

'Was she conscious when you found her?'

'yes.'

The doctor nodded and then asked 'how long ago did you find her.' I blew out a sigh. 'About 20 minutes ago' He nodded again.

'what happened to her?'

I glanced at her cut shoulder, which was bleeding steadily. I thought it was pretty fucking obvious but I pointed it out anyway.

'Knife wound on her right shoulder.' He nodded at me yet again before starting to work on the girl. I watched silently from my corner as he worked on the girl, each minute praying it wasn't her last.

Eventually, the doctor straightened and looked at me with a small smile. 'she's going to be fine. We managed to stop the blood flow and there is no serious muscle or articular damage.'

I let out a heavy sigh of relief and tipped my head to the doctor as he walked out the door. I sat by her bead, waiting for her to wake up though dreading that moment because then, I'd have to say goodbye.

After hours of sitting and waiting, I saw her stir. After a few moments of stirring, she opened her beautiful blue eyes, at the moment cloudy from the medication, and looked at me. She gave me a small smile. 'you dint need to wait for me to wake,' she said, slurring her words slightly.

I gave her a smile in return. 'I wanted to say goodbye babe. I have to go now that I know you're safe.' He saw sadness flit across her eyes, followed by acceptance. 'ok Ranger, thanks for saving my life.' I laughed at that. 'no problem babe.' Unable to resist, I gave her a kiss on the forehead and whispered, 'I'll miss you babe,' before walking out of her life.

SPOV

I could feel it now, the slight pull of consciousness. I didn't resist it, but I didn't exactly speed up the process either. Eventually, no longer able to deny that I was awake, I opened my eyes.

I was greeted by warm chocolate brown eyes meeting mine. I was surprised he was still here. 'you didn't need to wait for me to wake,' I said to him, trying to sound stern. He smiled at me, and I felt like I was missing an in-joke because he looked amused at what I had said. 'I wanted to say goodbye babe. I have to go now that I know you're safe.'

I felt unexpected sadness course through me at the thought of not seeing him again, but I hid it, not wanting to explain to him why I didn't want him to go when I didn't know myself. Besides, I knew he had to leave at some point. 'ok Ranger, thanks for saving my life,' I said sincerely.

He laughed at that. 'no problem babe.' Suddenly, he leant down and kissed me on the forehead and I heard him whisper in my ear. 'I'll miss you babe,' before straightening and leaving the room. I felt that sadness again but didn't have much time to ponder as I felt myself drift back to sleep.

I woke to an annoying beeping. In my groggy mind, it took me a second to realize what the beeping was and that it wasn't a part of my dream, and that I was actually awake. I sat up suddenly, only to fall back down again immediately when the pain in my shoulder suddenly flared.

I compromised with myself and just moved my head and neck. Hmmm… ok so I was in a hospital… the last thing I remember is passing out in Ranger's car… then talking to him when I woke up before. I felt the sadness pound at my heart again that he was gone. The experience had been…horrific, to say the least, but I had found comfort in his presence. I was still in numb shock he had saved my life.

Oh… now I understood the lack of company, he didn't even know my name. Now, from all of the doctor sitcoms I had ever watched, I knew that somewhere there had to be a button to summon a nurse. I just had to find it.

After a bit of scavenging around, I found it on the remote about 10 centimetres from my hand. I sighed and pressed it, falling back down on the pillow. A few moments later, a nurse came in looking at me with wide eyes. She smiled when she saw me awake. 'Sorry dear, you weren't meant to wake up for another few hours.'

At my enquiring look, she elaborated. 'You were in a fair bit of pain when that young man brought you in. We had to give you a sedative.' I just nodded. Without a pause, she said, 'Now, dear, we need you to tell us who you are. That young man said he didn't know.'

Her tone was sceptical so I quickly corrected her. 'He didn't. He just helped me out of the situation I was in.' She looked at me enquiringly and I sighed. 'My name is Stephanie Plum. My Parents are Ellen and Frank Plum. There number is 555 1234. _a/n I don't know if they say the number in the book so I just made one up. _And I need to speak to the police. Is it possible to get them to come to the hospital?' Her eyes widened but she nodded and quickly scuttled out of the room.

After an hour or so of INTENSE boredom, the door of my room burst open. I winced at the sound and looked up to see my mother storming through the doorway. She gave me a quick once over then started on me. 'Where were you? Why did you leave the house? How could you let yourself get hurt?'

I sighed. I had known this was coming. 'Mum, I don't know where I was. Down some street. I left the house because…' I paused for a minute, not sure whether to tell the truth or tell half lies. 'I was angry at you for what you said.' So I went with the half lies. Oh well.

She looked at me like I had grown an extra head. 'You were angry? Why would you be angry? I'm the one who has spent the last 2 days looking for you! How could you do this to me? Sarah Margaret's daughter doesn't get stuck in the hospital because she got herself hurt!' She kept talking but I stopped listening, focusing on clearing my throat and eyes from the burning and stop my lip from trembling. So much for that Ranger, I thought sadly as I listened to my mother's tirade as my shoulder started to ache again.

_a/n Back to the time the book is set in but I'm using some more AU licence here and saying 'Joe be gone' and suddenly, he doesn't appear in the book. Cool huh? She's just talking about her job in general now. Also, although Lula's past is going to be the same (her being a whore and all) but she's appearing now instead of later. _

'… I need help. This capturing stuff isn't as easy as it sounds. I need to talk to someone who's an expert at this job.'

'I know just the guy. His full name is Ricardo Carlos Mañoso._ a/n I know in the book she actually says his street name is Ranger but that would ruin it so I just took out that word :)_ Second generation Cuban-American. Was special forces. Works for Vinnie now. He makes apprehension other agents only dream about. He gets a little creative sometimes, but hey, that's the way it is with a genius, right?

'Creative?'

'Doesn't always play by the rules.'

'oh.'

'Like Clint Eastwood in that Dirty Harry movie,' Connie said. 'You don't have a problem with Clint Eastwood, do you?'

She punched a number on her speed dial, connected with Mañoso's pager, and left a call-back message. 'Not to worry,' she said, smiling. 'This guy'll tell you everything you need to know.' _(quote p 30-31)_

I sighed and dropped the file I had been working on on the desk. I wasn't getting anywhere with him and I was getting frustrated. So I was taking a break. I sighed, 'fine. I'm going shopping. Call me if Mañoso calls you back.' Connie gave me a small smile and waved at me as I left.

It was 9 in the morning, too early for Lula to be in yet, so I called her cell. 'Hello?'

'Lula? I'm off to do some shopping to blow of some steam. You coming?'

'damn skippy I'm coming white girl! I'll meet you in the food court!' I smiled at that. Trust her to think of food first. Though now that I thought about it, I could go for some fried chicken…

I stifled a yawn as I got into my car and sped to the mall. As I entered the food court, I saw Lula sitting down at one of the tables, looking incredibly bored. I smiled at that. She couldn't have been sitting there more than two minutes. I made my way over to her and when I was almost at her table, she spotted me and smiled and got up. 'Bout time you got your ass here!' No further encouragement needed, we quickly got into line at cluck-a-bucket.

As we ate our lunch, my cell rung. I picked it up and answered, reluctantly putting down my chicken wing. 'Hello?'

'Steph! He called back. He said he'll meet you in an hour at Pino's.' I looked at my watch. So, 11:15 I was meeting him. Great. That gave me an hour to window shop. I wouldn't be able to buy anything with my almost negative credit card rating, but I could never resist looking.

After 45 minutes of looking around the shop before saying goodbye to Lula and driving over to Pino's. It took a little than expected so I only got there just on time. I quickly grabbed my wallet and jacket from the passenger side seat before jumping out of my car. This Mañoso didn't seem like one you kept waiting. Just from Connie's description that much was clear.

I walked into the familiar take out restaurant and quickly scanned the room for someone of Mañoso's description. As soon as I walked into the restaurant, my eyes immediately focused on the man sitting in the far corner, with his back to the wall.

He had flawless mocha latte colored skin that just asked to be touched and dark black long hair that was tied back in a low ponytail. To complete his look, he was wearing black cargoes and a black t-shirt. And he had dark brown eyes, which were currently focused on my face, slightly widened. He was the most sexy man I had ever seen, but that wasn't what my attention was centered on right now. God, I had met him before.

_a/n let me know what you think! Just press that button and review! Let me know your questions especially, because sometimes I don't even think of the questions you ask!_


	7. Catching Up

**Chapter 8- Catching up**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character's in Janet Evanovich's wonderful books**_

For a few seconds all I did was stare at his face. I stared at it, disbelieving that I was meeting him again, the man from the darkest moment of my life. A part of me, deep down, was aware that I had been denying the entire experience for 11 years. And that large part of me still didn't want have to face it now and his presence was forcing my mind to remember, still in perfect detail, everything about those nights.

Dimly, I was aware he was staring at me too. But I couldn't face it, the memories. It was all too sudden, my mind was spinning. Before my mind could catch up with my actions, I spun on my heel and ran out of the take out restaurant.

My hair was annoyingly flipping around my face as I ran through the car park to my car. Suddenly, I felt strong arms catch me around the waist. I opened my mouth to scream but I felt a calloused hand cover my mouth as he pulled me towards an alley. I kicked and screamed into his hand as he half carried me away from the carpark.

There was a small part of my mind that wasn't confused that was saying; Pino's was full of cops! Some of them my friends! How did they _not _notice that I was being half-carried, against my will, towards a dark alley, by a stranger?!

Just then, he pulled both of us into an alley, pushing me against the wall, firmly though not roughly. I was still resisting him, but he was just holding my arms now, knowing we were far enough away from the restaurant that if I screamed it wouldn't matter. I struggled futilely against him until I felt tears running down my cheeks. Why is it every time I see this man I end up in tears?

I looked into his eyes, barely able to see out of mine. 'Please put me down,' I whispered. His hands tightened in the slightest and I stiffened more before his hands relaxed so that I could easily break free of him. I looked down, trying to collect myself, and failing miserably, before looking up at him again. I felt myself stiffen again at the expression on his face. There was none. It was like looking at blank canvas. So different from the man I had known.

I looked at him closer, until I detected the tiniest amount of emotion. It was regret. I felt myself sag in relief. So he hadn't changed entirely. I leaned against the wall and looked at him. He had changed physically though. Were once he was toned, he was now ripped, without looking like a steroid-induced muscle man you saw on TV. Every part of his body was more toned. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail now, longer than it had been those many years ago. His eyes were the same but more closed off now. It had taken a whole minute of staring to decipher the smallest of emotions from him.

I closed my eyes for a moment, comparing the two Rangers in my head, amazed at the difference 11 years could do. Not only in his appearance, but his entire body language had changed so that now he was less open, more closed off. I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me. I gave him a small smile. 'You've changed.' I saw the smallest of smiles tug at his lips. I sighed. 'Like that. It's ok to smile, you know?'

He looked at me incredulously for a moment before smiling widely. 'I have changed. So have you though. There was a time you weren't nearly so bold.' I blushed at that, and looked down. My blush deepened as I remembered the performance I had put on a few minutes ago.

'I'm sorry for that. I was expecting Ricardo Carlos Mañoso, who was meant to give me a hand at this bounty hunter shit, not Ranger, my own personal blast from the past.' I felt a finger coax my chin up so I was looking at him and I felt a faint smile at the déjà vu. 'I don't blame you. I just couldn't have you run out on me like that.' I smiled at that, but still felt a little ashamed. We were silent for a moment before Ranger spoke again. 'So you're Stephanie Plum, the white girl I was meant to give a crash course on being a bad ass bounty hunter.' I smiled slightly at his descriptions and nodded.

We were silent for another moment before Ranger said softly, 'I always wondered what your name was. The doctor asked me when I took you in and I couldn't answer him. It's bugged me ever since.' I looked up at him in surprise. We stared at each other for a moment before he spoke. 'How about we go back to my apartment and we talk there?' I nodded, still a bit speechless from the shock of seeing him, and walked back out of the alley, into the parking lot.

I turned around to him, not knowing where his car was. He turned me back around and put his hand on my back, guiding me towards a Porsche. I felt my mouth drop open. That could not be his car. There is no way that was his car. Then the little lights beeped on the car and I saw Ranger holding the keys. I turned to him and he flashed me a smile before closing my still gaping mouth.

I went round quickly to the other side and opened the door. I heard him do the same and get in but I was afraid that maybe I had sat on something during the day and I would ruin the perfection that was his car. He leaned over the consol and looked at me, eyebrow raised. 'In babe,'

I looked at his perfect car again then sighed and got in. If it got dirty, I was blaming him. I moaned as I sunk into the leather chairs, marvelling at how soft it was. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Ranger's eyes on me. They looked far darker than before and I shivered in my seat. And it wasn't the same shiver that I felt first time I saw that look in his eyes.

He buckled himself up and I did the same as he turned on the car. The engine started with a soft purr and we pulled out of the lot. I watched him as he drove but he didn't move a muscle and he never took his eyes off the road.

I stared at him, sure by now that he wasn't going to turn to me and he seemed to be in some sort of zone. I stared at him, looking at all the subtle differences in his face. How it was thinner now, more toned. Then I looked at his eyes. The first time I had met him, all those years ago; they had been full of emotion. Some that scared me, some that comforted me.

Now it was so hard to read what he was feeling. It had taken a lot of searching to find the smallest amount of emotion from him before. And when I thought of how shocked I had been to see him, his eyes widening in the slightest was my only indication that he was surprised. That's what I looked like when I found out I did have some pineapple upside-down cake left after all.

He sighed and looked at me. I blushed and looked down. He had known I had been staring at him the whole time. 'We've both changed babe.' I looked back at him, surprised. I narrowed my eyes. Great, he was a mindreader. He smiled minutely, 'I'm not a mindreader, it's all over you're face.' I rolled my eyes. His smile widened and he turned back to the road and I continued staring at him, studying him and the changes I could see. Hey, I had already been caught out, so why bother changing now?

We were only driving for maybe 5 or 10 minutes when we turned into an underground car park under a tall building. My mouth dropped open. First he has a Porsche, then he's a mindreader and now he lives in a massive building like this? Not to mention the entire parking lot was full of very expensive and slick black cars. And they all looked very new.

Wasn't he the street punk? And yet, somehow, he had done more with his life than I ever had or would. Far more. All I had done in my life is get myself fired from my job at E.E. Martin. I sighed. If I didn't feel bad enough for my performance in comparison to his complete calm before, I sure did now.

He heard my sigh and shot me a look. I refused to look him in the eye and I got out of the car. I went round to the front of the car and he met me there, pulling me by the waist toward the elevator that was about 50 meters away. Just as we were nearing the elevator, it opened. When I saw who walked out, I automatically, without really meaning to, pulled against Ranger's hands. He tightened his grip on me again, but I wasn't frightened of it this time and I leaned into his grasp instead, knowing he wasn't going to let me get hurt.

He loosened his grip again and looked at me, giving me the slightest of smiles, noticing I wasn't pulling away. I looked back at the man who had just walked out of the elevator. And, two for two, he was doing a goldfish expression again. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing at the look on his face. Both men looked at me with those damn blank faces as I almost doubled over in Ranger's grasp. Before I knew what was happening, I was tipped upside down over someone's shoulder.

I hit Ranger on the back. 'Ranger let me down,'

'No, you can stay there until you're hysterics pass,'

I tried to calm myself down but I could still feel my chest shaking from laughter. I knew I wasn't going to calm down anytime soon. 'So, Tank, long time no see. Though you haven't changed much. Your face in particular is the same as ever.' I burst out laughing at that and as much as he tried to conceal it, I could feel Ranger's chest bounce as he laughed too.

It was true though, Tank looked the same as ever though, how I'll never know, he actually looked bigger then before. Or maybe my memory of him had just shrunk him to make him a realistic size. Though he too was far more ripped then he had been. Hell, he looked like his muscles had muscles.

Suddenly, I jolted as Ranger moved towards the elevator. Clearly, he had realized I wasn't going to calm down. 'Bye Tank,' I said, still giggling, watching him shake his head and go towards one of the multitude of SUV's in the lot. The first time I had met that man I had been so scared, I mused. I grinned. It was hard to stay scared of a man whose favourite hobby, from what I could see, was pretending to be a fish. Or maybe a shark. He really was too big to be a fish. I started laughing again at the thought of a tiny fish body with Tank's big head and I felt him shake his head.

Ranger stepped into the elevator and pressed a button and I watched the doors close. When they closed, I started hitting Ranger on the back again. 'Ranger put me down now.' He was silent, ignoring me. I hit his back for a few more seconds before I stopped and just lay there with a defeated sigh. I would be angry that he wouldn't put me down but I couldn't stop grinning to work up any anger.

I let out a frustrated sigh. 'C'mon Ranger. All my blood has rushed to my head now. I won't laugh anymore, I swear!' Just then, the elevator door opened and Ranger walked out through it, still ignoring me. Geez… surely I was getting heavy by now. He opened a door I hadn't even realized was there and stepped through. He closed it then set me on my feet.

The blood rushed from my face and I stumbled a bit, grabbing him immediately for support. After my very short dizzy spell passed, I let go of his arm and looked at him. He was looking at me strangely. Sort of … wary? I started laughing again and he looked resigned. I laughed harder at that. 'I'm s..s..sorry. I had stopped laughing! But it was your face. It looked so scared… of me … a girl from the burg…' I burst out laughing again and I felt myself getting scooped up. I kept laughing as I felt myself lowered onto a couch.

Ranger sat on the other end of the couch, ready to wait out my laughing fit. I let my laughter die out but I knew my eyes were still wide and there was still a smile on my lips. I looked at Ranger and saw a small smile on his lips as he looked at me.

I looked back at him for a moment before feeling my smile fade. 'So what happened to you after I left.' His smile faded and his blank face came into play. 'What do you mean babe?' I rolled my eyes at him. 'C'mon Ranger. Everything about you has changed. You're whole body has changed. You're whole lifestyle has changed…' I trailed off then added quietly, 'you don't even act the same anymore. I can barely get a read off you…' I looked down, embarrassed as I realized I was rambling.

Ranger was silent for a moment before speaking, 'I'm sorry babe.' He didn't say anything else but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. I just leaned back into the couch. 'So, what happened after?'

I didn't have to say after what. He knew what I was talking about. I could feel his eyes on me. 'I went to the army with Tank. Then we got involved in Special Forces, the Rangers. After years, we both left Special Ops and came back to Trenton. I started out small, chasing up skips for Vinnie with Tank. Slowly, I built up this company. I still work for Vinnie but Rangeman takes on other clients as well.'

I looked up at him as he finished his _very _brief description of over a decade of his life. I still couldn't believe he built himself so high. He was looking into my eyes intensely. 'What is it babe? Why do you keep giving me those looks?' I shuffled uncomfortably now in my seat, glancing at him quickly before I would look away. I glanced at him quickly again and before I could turn away he let out a frustrated sigh and pulled me into his lap. I squealed as I fell heavily into his lap and looked up at him.

His eyes seemed frustrated at that moment and it wouldn't usually comfort me to know I was annoying someone who must have been 50 times stronger then me, but I knew he was letting his wall down for me, to make me more relaxed and I felt myself visibly unwind with that knowledge. His eyes softened a bit and he said, 'tell me babe.' I shrugged my shoulders and explained, 'I just can't believe that while you've built yourself so high in life, I haven't done anything productive with my life. I'm just feeling bad about it.'

He hugged me tightly and spoke lowly. 'Not true babe. You've are an amazing woman. You always have been and over time you've just got braver and kinder.' I felt blush cover my cheeks. 'It's true babe.' I looked down but let it drop for now.

'So, babe, what led you to wanting to be a bounty hunter? I wouldn't have pinned you as one. Then again, you're not really one to fit the stereotype.' I glared at him at that. Was he calling me strange? His lips upturned as he watched my face. 'You're different babe, its good. Unless you wanted to be the burg after all this time?' I shuddered at the thought of me being in a house right now, cooking dinner for an ungrateful husband and children. His smile widened at my obvious disgust before it faded as he got down to business.

'What files do you have babe?' I groaned at the reality check. Right. The stupid file. 'Daniel Matthers. 44 year old man who keeps staying ahead of me the entire way.'

'What's he charged for?'

'Public Drunkenness and assault. Long story short, he got drunk and beat on a guy that looked at him the wrong way.'

I could feel the fading bruise on my cheek from our last encounter proving that he was a mean drunk. Ranger's hand covered mine and I realized that I had raised my hand to lightly touch my bruise. Internally, I was kicking myself. There was no need for him to know that Matthers had given me the bruise!

He looked at me for a moment. 'Hurt babe?' he asked softly. I shook my head. 'Not now. Hurt like a bitch when it happened though.' He laughed softly at that. 'I'll help you out tomorrow babe. I'll pick you up at 6.' I looked at him incredulously. 'I'm not up until 3 hours after that. Maybe. Probably 4.' He smiled at me. '8 then babe.'

I yawned and looked at my watch at surprise at how tired I was. It wasn't really that late, only quarter past five, but I was emotionally drained from my discoveries today. I was surprised at how late it was though. I guess those silences were longer than I realised.

'Alright then. I'm probably going to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow. At _10_.' I emphasized, glaring at him. He smirked at me and stood up, pulling me with him before setting me on my feet and tugging me to the door by my hand.

He pulled me into the elevator as we left his apartment and we stood in comfortable silence until it opened in the garage. He led me back to his Porsche and I again couldn't hold back a moan of delight at the softness of the leather. It was just beginning to get dark outside as we drove out of the garage and the darkening skies drew out another prolonged yawn from me. He looked over at me and gave me a small grin as I nested my head into the leather, really too tired to be bothered keeping it up anymore.

Everything seemed to go by in a bit of a daze and before I knew it, I was leaning on Ranger as we rode up the elevator in my building. I murmured something along the lines of 'when did we get here,' and I felt Ranger silently laugh. Ranger had been doing a lot of that today, laughing, I half thought as my body prepared itself for sleep. Of course, I didn't have a lot to reference to. The only other time I had met him wasn't particularly joyful.

I felt Ranger half-drag me through the elevator doors, at the same time dragging me out of my reverie. I fumbled in my pocket for the key and managed to find it and have it in my hand by the time we were at the door. I put the key in the lock and sighed as the door opened, appreciating the familiar view of my apartment, and the faint sound of my hamster Rex on his wheel. I turned on the lights to my apartment and I woke up a bit.

I turned to the still present Ranger and gave him a grateful smile. 'Thanks for everything today Ranger. I'm really grateful for it.' Ranger gave me a half-smile and nodded to me before leaving my apartment. When he left, I carefully locked the door before stumbling back to my bedroom for an early night sleep. Especially if he was coming at 8.

_**Please press that little button and review! You all know how much I love reviews!**_


	8. Training and Threats

Chapter 9-

**Chapter 9- Training and Threats**

_A/n thanks to everyone who reviewed- you were all really nice and you really helped motivate me to get this next chapter out and struggle past the writers block! You're all fabulous!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters. I didn't last chapter, or the chapter before, or any of the chapters and nothing's changed!**_

I felt myself drifting awake by the welcome smell of coffee. Without really opening my eyes, I let my nose carry me towards the kitchen. I entered the kitchen, promptly crashing into the first chair available. Really, I was surprised I'd made it that far blind but I still swore as I regained my balance and unwillingly opened my eyes.

Ranger was standing in my kitchen, looking amused at my antics, fully clothed in combat black like yesterday. In his hands was a cup of hot coffee. I grumbled, something about how lucky he was he had coffee before righting myself and giving the chair a shove for good measure, realistically not moving it and sorta hurting my wrist from when I landed on it after getting my bruise. I held it to me the slightest unconsciously before remembering he was a mind reader and stopped before he picked up on that too.

I looked up at him after a millisecond of looking at my hand and saw his whole expression had changed. Whereas before he was amused, now he seemed tense. His hand was clenched tightly around the coffee cup. His mouth was tight as I walked over to him and plucked the cup out of his white hands, using the hand that wasn't still slightly throbbing.

When his hands were free, he reached out for my hand and gently started moving it in different directions, watching my face carefully. Now, I had broken a great many bones and I knew what he was doing so I said quietly, 'It's not broken. It barely hurt.'

He stilled the movement of my hand after a moment and let go of it, leaning back on the counter, still watching my face. 'Matthers?' he asked quietly. I sighed and pointed to my bruise. 'Just a consequence of that. Had to stop my fall or I would have another bruise.' His mouth tightened again and I suddenly felt sorry for Matthers. Well, I would be feeling sorry for him if my wrist wasn't currently hurting.

I yawned despite the coffee and my eyes instinctually flicked to the clock on the oven. It was 6:10. My eyes widened and I felt my own mouth tighten as I glared back at Ranger. '6!! I said _10_. And yes, I knew you'd ignore me and come when you wanted but you said you would come at _8_ not _6_!! What were you thinking! I don't function this early!'

Damn him he was smiling. He was trying to cover it with that damn blank face but I could still see the smile. I opened my mouth to continue yelling at him but he cut me off. 'Babe, have you got a gun?' I narrowed my eyes. 'No Ranger, I still don't like guns. But don't change the subject! Why did you wake me up at _6_ in the morning when no decent person is awake?'

He smiled at me at that. 'Not a subject change babe. I can't help you catch your skip until you have a gun and handcuffs.' He grinned wider at that. 'I knew you wouldn't have a gun and I'm guessing whatever handcuffs you may have are not up to security standards.' I blushed at that and his grin widened even further. 'And the people we need to meet for that aren't exactly decent.'

30 minutes later, we were walking into the shop I was going to buy my _gun_ in. Mental shudder. And physical shudder, just so that Ranger knows exactly how much I don't want one. He shook his head as I followed him into the shop reluctantly. We walked towards the tough looking lady at the counter, me a bit slower then him.

He told her we were after a gun for me. She looked at me and asked what sort of gun I was after. I stared at her for a moment then, not getting a response, turned and stared at Ranger incredulously. Yeah, like I knew what sort of guns there were.

He sighed and said some sort of weird gun name and I tuned out. I'm sure whatever he got would be just fine. Suddenly, I felt cold metal being pushed into my hands. I looked down to see the gun in my hand and I literally froze. This was only the second time I had seen a gun up close. There weren't any guns allowed at the house and none of my friends were exactly gun happy. Except Connie and I think she knew to keep it away from me. And Lula hadn't gotten into it yet but I'm sure it wouldn't take long now.

I felt cold fear run through me. I wasn't exactly reliving the night, just that one moment of doubt in Ranger when I thought that there was no chance I was going to live through that night. Except in my mind it was prolonged so that it was just constant fear washing over me, the waves getting higher and higher with every passing second.

A warm hand covered my own and I felt the waves recede with the chill. I looked up into Ranger's eyes. They were softer than I was used to these days and his voice was equally soft when he spoke. 'It's to protect you babe. This gun is to protect you and _stop_ you from getting hurt. You need it if you're going to be in the business.' I shook my head, clearing the image from my mind before smiling weakly at Ranger. 'I don't think you'll ever convince me to like guns.'

I paid for the gun and before I knew what was happening, Ranger was given something and he was dragging me through a door behind the counter. When we went into the room it was all too obvious what it was used for. I turned again, intent on leaving the room but his grip on me tightened and dragged me further into the room. I dug my feet into the ground but I was not even hampering his progress across the room.

He stopped pulling and looked at me. I met his gaze, trying to glare at him but I'm pretty sure I wasn't fooling him. I really didn't want to shoot the gun. The feel of the coolness in my hands alone was too much for me. But then again, I didn't want to tell Ranger that either, even though I was sure he could tell. Ranger took the gun from my hand and put in some recently-bought bullets. He handed it back to me and now my hands were shaking lightly. I was holding a fully _loaded _gun. A gun. Shit.

I felt Ranger put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly and I made myself relax. Once I was somewhat relaxed, though I would never be fully relaxed with a gun in my hands, he let go of my shoulders and turned me to face the little paper man about 100 feet away.

I groaned and lifted my slightly trembling hands to point at the innocent faceless man who had done nothing, I'm sure, to deserve this. Ranger leaned across me and fixed my grip on gun and kept his hands there for a few more seconds as they stopped trembling. He then released my hands and quietly explained how to use the gun. After he finished explaining he stepped to the side and watched me expectantly.

Knowing I was going to have to shoot this gun sometime, I took a deep breathe and pulled the trigger. I didn't really know were it went because I wasn't really looking, but I saw Ranger's head nod in approval. I looked at the paper man, curious, and saw that there was now a hole in paper, though not what I'd call a 'kill' shot as it barely touched the line of his arm. I felt the smallest bit of pride that I could actually hit the cut out on my first go and felt myself smile a little.

I saw a small smile on Ranger's face, clearly amused that I was actually happy I had hit the side of the man. 'good,' he said simply and readjusted my grip before stepping aside again so I could shoot the gun. By the time we had gone through all the bullets, my arm was aching and the poor paper man was completely ripped to shreds. I'd even got a shot through the head of the thing. I finally put down the gun, arm exhausted.

Ranger put his arm around me and pulled me to him, kissing me on the forehead and grinning down at me. I felt a tingle go down my spine when his lips were on my skin but I pushed it down, not wanting to deal with what it could mean right now 'Like guns yet babe?' I shook my head adamantly but said grudgingly, 'I can use it to protect myself now though. You were right about that I s'pose.' His grin widened at that and I grabbed my gun regrettably, still not in the least liking the thing as Ranger, without removing his arm, pulled me back towards the door to the main part of the shop.

More then anxious to get out of there before he decided I could do with another round, I hurried past him, letting his arm fall from my shoulders and almost ran to the door of the shop. I could hear him chuckling at my antics as he said goodbye to the shop keeper but I didn't let that hinder me until I was standing outside the shop. He left the shop a minute later, his eyes still sparkling with amusement. We walked to his car and I got in and dropped the empty gun onto the ground.

When Ranger got in, he took my gun from the floor where I had just dropped it and pulled another round from his cargo's pocket and loaded the gun. He then put the safety on and pushed it back into my hands and clicked handcuffs I didn't notice him holding into the belt loop in my pants. I glowered at him until I realised he was ignoring me and starting the car, at which point I switched my glare to the gun. After a few moments of glaring at the gun, I saw a hand suddenly come into view and pluck it out of my hand and put it into the glove box in front of me.

Ranger went into his 'zone' and we sat in comfortable silence as he drove. We stopped outside the office and we both went in together. I walked in first and both Lula's and Connie's face brighten when I walked in. obviously it had been a slow morning because the filing was actually done, Connie's nails were a different shade of red then yesterday and they both looked far too excited to see me. Though I must say, there faces fell when they realised I didn't have any donuts or fried goods.

Lula quickly spoke. 'What's going on Steph? You're in late _and _you –' she was cut off as Ranger walked in behind me and I had to smother a giggle at the look on her face. It was a strange combination of lust, surprise and confusion. I'm pretty sure she could figure out why I was donutless by just looking at Ranger's completely fatless body. Ranger's hand settled on my neck and my body, without my permission, responded to his touch.

'Any new files Connie?' I asked, trying my best to sound unaffected by Ranger's lingering hand. Connie shook her head. 'None for you Steph though I do have one for you Ranger.' Ranger held out his hand and Connie handed it over, looking a little affected by his presence herself.

Ranger nodded to both the women and we left the office, back to his car. He started it up again and stated driving in an unfamiliar direction. I was just about to ask him where we were going when he spoke. 'I had a man run a search for Matthers. He got himself a new girlfriend and he should be at her place. That's probably why you lost him.' I resisted the childish urge to poke out my tongue at him for pointing out my 'amateur' mistakes. I did, however, still let out a somewhat childish huff.

He smiled but otherwise ignored me and parked outside a dumpy looking building. He got out and I groaned before doing the same thing. I really didn't want to go after this guy again. But I was with Ranger so I was pretty sure I was in least not going to get punched. And I would _really_ like the money I would get for bringing him in. Rent was already late.

We walked into the building and Ranger went to the right and before I could say anything, started up the stairs. I opened my mouth to protest but he called over his shoulder first, 'Babe.' I grumbled, unintelligently even to me, but followed him, eyeing the elevator longingly. I would have taken it anyway but he didn't tell me the apartment number.

Luckily for both me and him, Ranger got off at the second floor and I gratefully followed him, leaving the stairwell behind. I followed Ranger to about the 5th apartment along were Ranger stopped and knocked on the door. A thin, bleached blonde 30 something year old answered the door, taking in Ranger appreciatively. I felt a flare of unsuspected and unwarranted jealousy go through me but I again pushed it back down.

'Can I help you with something?' urgh… she was practically purring. Stupid little stuck up, ugly, miserable, felony-dating… Although it was _very _clear she was talking only to Ranger, at this point I cut in. 'We're looking for Daniel Matthers. He's violated his bond and we are here to escort him back to the police station.' Suddenly looking much more nervous, I noted contentedly, she said, 'Sorry, I don't know anyone by that name.'

I sighed in frustration but Ranger wasted no time in pushing her aside and entering the apartment. I walked in after him, ignoring the gaping woman, in time to see Ranger snap cuffs on a passed-out Matthers. He'd obviously been drinking heavier than usual because usually when I entered the room, he woke up. Or maybe Ranger was just quieter. Ranger hauled him up by the collar of his shirt, and impressive feat considering the 200 pounds of pure fat he was lifting, and started dragging him towards the door. I followed him out of the door, giving the woman a little finger wave as I closed the door.

To my relief, this time Ranger chose to take the elevator and forgo the stairs. When the elevator cheerfully dinged and opened, Ranger shoved Matthers inside, none too gently I noticed, almost touching my bruise again, wondering at the motivation. Eventually, Ranger dragged him into the back of the car roughly.

About half way to the cop shop, Matthers woke up and he was not happy, to say the least, to find himself in custody. When he realised who I was, he started cursing. I didn't even listen to what he was saying about me because I really didn't want to know but I was pretty sure I heard the word 'cunt' and 'bitch' thrown in a couple of times. And there may have been some mention of the fading bruise on my cheek.

I tried my best to ignore him but I saw Ranger was having very little luck himself. His whole body was rigid and a muscle was jumping in his jaw, but he kept silent. Unlike Matthers who kept up the insults and threats all the way.

When we got to the station, Ranger was out of the car before I could get my seatbelt undone. He hauled Matthers out of the car, shoving him to the ground. He gave me a look that clearly said 'stay in the car.' But I figured with his hands full of my skip, he couldn't stop me so I got out of the car and followed him anyway. He glared at me but I gave him a small finger wave and walked towards him. His expression softened and he shook his head slightly in amusement before turning hard again when he had to restrain my struggling skip.

Matthers, clearly not understanding Ranger's rougher then usual treatment of him, starting insulting me again. I could see the muscle twitching in his jaw again.

5 minutes later we were skip-free and I was completely thankful. My skip was out of the way and I didn't have to listen to him insulting me until the next time he skipped. Which I was guessing, unless he joined alcoholics anonymous, was going to be soon. We got back to the car and Ranger was still radiating anger.

Just as I was putting my seatbelt on, Ranger grabbed the hand I was fastening it with. I looked at him, surprised and very confused, when his lips crashed down on mine, passionate at first before growing gentler. I got lost in the kiss, leaving behind my confusion about Ranger at the moment. Eventually, he pulled away and looked in my eyes, still preventing me from getting my thoughts straight.

He smiled and pulled further away. 'Sorry babe, Matthers was getting to me. I didn't like that he could say those things and I couldn't hit him.' He paused and grinned a little, 'much anyway.' I was still confused but I just sat back in the leather seats, letting myself calm down. 'Why do you have to confuse me with stupid cryptic statements?' It wasn't until he started laughing that I had said that out loud. I blushed but now that I had said it out loud, I wanted an answer.

I looked at him as he started the engine; his mouth still upturned in a smile, and cocked an eyebrow. 'Well? Just because I didn't mean to say that doesn't mean you don't have to answer.' He looked over at me, eyes still shining from amusement. 'Because babe, you are beautiful and the most kind-hearted woman I've met. And you didn't deserve what Matthers was saying to you and I wanted you to know it.' I blushed again at his words but my mouth involuntarily turned into a smile.

10 minutes later, as my blush was finally beginning to fade, he parked outside my building and walked me to the elevator. He didn't get in though and when the elevator door opened, he leaned in unexpectantly and softly kissed me on the lips, just a gentle tease, much contrary to our last kiss. He broke the kiss and gave me a soft smile before walking away. I was still a little dazed from the kiss and I snapped out of it and jumped into the elevator before it could be whisked away to another floor.

I walked into my apartment and almost immediately yearned something sweet. I didn't really care what. I scrounged around all corners of my apartment searching for some form of sugar. After determining that the food fairy hadn't found me worthy of gracing me with her presence, I sighed. I was going to have to go out again. It was all Ranger's fault, playing with my hormones like that. I picked up my car keys and made a sugar run down to the closest store that sold sweets.

**RPOV**

I almost groaned when I got back to Haywood. With Steph taken care of for the day, I was going to have to finish the paperwork on my desk and then go to a postponed meeting with a client that was supposed to happen this morning. I went up to 5 to start on the paperwork but on my way to my office, Tank intercepted me with a worried look in his eyes. 'Ranger, we just received a note as you were coming up the elevator. It concerns Stephanie.'

From the look in his eyes, I knew it wasn't going to be good. 'Threat?' I asked, almost redundantly. Tank nodded and gave me the note.

_Ranger, what excellent timing. I recognised who you were with today; you two would make a nice couple, not at all what I had in mind for her. She's not going to live till the end of the day though._

As soon as I was finished reading it, it had me flying through the door, phone to my ear, hoping desperately to find her before he did.

**SPOV**

I parked near the entrance and jumped out, eager to get to the food. I had barely walked two steps before my whole body screamed at me to stop and run away. I stopped in my tracks. Something was off. I had the same feeling when I walked into that dodgy bar all those years ago. Suddenly, all the misgivings I had were multiplied ten fold and not caring if I looked stupid if I was wrong, I jumped to the side so that I crashed into my car, hearing a whiz of fast air and a heated yet chilling pain slamming into my body.

_**So what did you think? Sorry it's been so long and sorry for the cliffie at the end! I will try to be better next time and I hope the chapter was worth the wait! Reply and let me know what you thought! Let me know all the questions that are eating away at you so I'm sure to answer them!**_


	9. Enduring

Chapter 10-

**Chapter 10- Enduring **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters**

**Warning for swearing in this chapter, though not much.**

_Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed and PMed me, you're all awesome and really help me out heaps! I got this one out a bit quicker! Enjoy! _

My felt my face go white as pain attacked me from both sides of my body. However, I didn't spare time to think or worry about it and I jumped into my car, thankful that I was, as always, too lazy to lock it before hoping out. I knew it would pay off one day. I shut my door with a now-bloody hand, I didn't even want to think why it was so bloody, and drove off.

As I was speeding out of the lot, I heard shots following me and I shuddered as I saw one go through the window, inches away from me. I tasted a warmer, thicker, copper like liquid in my mouth but ignored it along with everything else that was battering at my barriers. I did, however, pull on a jacket, just to hide the reality from myself.

I drove away quickly, not even slowing down to turn the next corner, burning rubber and probably bursting eardrums from the screeching. I drove towards the safest place I could think of. Haywood.

After 10 minutes of driving far faster than the speed limit allowed, I pulled into the same driveway Ranger had driven up only yesterday. I was only glad I remembered were it was. I was giving all credit to the adrenaline still pumping through my veins.

Not actually having any sort of remote or whatever was required to get into the building, I got out of my car slowly, the pain returning now that the adrenaline was receding. My hand slipped on the still bloody handle, though I still refused to admit it was my blood. Without anything holding me up, I let myself collapse against my car, feeling myself getting sleepy even as the pain flared in my shoulder.

Suddenly I heard the rolling of sleek motors and yelling of deep voices. I opened my closing eyes to see Tank and a man I didn't know running out of the garage towards me. I smiled slightly, knowing I could trust the unknown man because he was with Tank. As it turned out, I realized several seconds later, it was my name they were yelling.

'Steph! Call up to control and tell them to call Ranger and the other teams in.' I felt myself tuning out again, almost finding comfort in the approaching blackness. I was taken closer to consciousness again though when I was picked off the ground in big arms that could only belong to Tank. I opened my eyes only to see the worried ones of Tank's looking down at me.

It was ridiculous, in my current state, but I tried to keep my eyes open, feeling bad for making Tank so worried. It wasn't _that_ bad. As we got into the elevator, his friend, or co-worker, came into view just as he was snapping his phone closed. He was dark skinned, though not as dark as Ranger, and had lightish brown hair. Like the rest of the men Ranger seemed to be associating himself with these days, he was ripped, though he looked less so next to Tank.

After a short trip up, much shorter then when Ranger and I had gone to his apartment, we stepped out into what appeared to be the most sterile doctor's office I had ever seen. Gentler than I thought possible for a man Tank's size, he lowered me onto an examining table and the still unknown man stepped forward as Tank stepped back.

He offered me a small smile before speaking softly. From his tone, I was guessing he was trying not to scare me. 'I'm Bobby, Stephanie. I work for Ranger, I'm a trained medic. It's too dangerous to take you to the hospital right now, so I'm going to try to treat you here. Are you ok with that?' I nodded, not really willing to talk in case it increased the pain, wondering why they deemed it 'too dangerous'.

'Ok Stephanie, I have to take of your jacket because it looks like you're bleeding under it.' He was still speaking softly. A bit scared of what was under my jacket still, I asked, stalling for time though honestly curious, 'Where's Ranger?' I didn't mean for it to come out as a whisper but my voice seems to have given up on me for the moment.

Tank answered this time, still gentler then I was used too. 'He was out looking for you when you arrived, he should be here any minute.' I nodded; glad to know he was on his way. I breathed in a deep breathe, offered him a small smile that barely touched my lips and a small nod because I didn't trust my voice to answer.

Tank put one of his hands under my back, putting gentle pressure on a spot that was thankfully mostly painless. He put the other hand under my neck, and lifted my head and the top half of my body off the relative warmth of the bed. I had been watching Tank as he lifted me, but as Bobby took a step closer, my gaze riveted back to him.

He kept his gaze focused on my arm as he started to lift it out of the jacket sleeve. I gasped at the pain of it and I felt a tear run down my face. Bobby paused at my gasp and looked up and seemed to pause at the expression on my face. Gently, he put my arm down and walked away out of my sight. Needing the comfort of knowing I wasn't alone, I returned my gaze to Tank as he removed his hands and lowered me back onto the table. He gave me a small smile but his eyes were emanating worry.

Just then, Bobby came back into my line of sight, carrying a pair of scissors. Naturally, I freaked out initially when I saw them but he gave me a small, tight smile and spoke soothingly, trying to abate the panic in my eyes. 'I'm just going to cut the jacket away Steph. I'm worried about the damage underneath. I don't want to move your arms.'

I felt myself relax in the slightest and he leaned over me with the sharp scissors, and started cutting away at my jacket. I watched his face as he cut away the fabric on my first arm. It remained carefully blank and emotionless. As soon as that was cut away, he started on the other arm.

It seemed more difficult this time and Bobby raised them and I could just see why. The bottom of the scissors where they cut through the fabric was red. I closed my eyes and took some deep breathes as my head spun at the sight of what I could no longer deny was my own blood.

Eventually, I opened my eyes again as Bobby got closer to the top of my arm. It was going slower now and I knew that we were getting closer to the source of the blood. I watched Bobby's face again and I could tell the moment he found whatever was wrong. It wasn't much; his blank face was probably almost as good as Rangers, it was just a fleeting look in his eyes.

There were mixed emotions but sympathy and worry were the easiest to read. Well, I guess the whole denial thing is completely out the window now. As soon as I saw that look in his eyes, I felt something press down on my shoulder and looked up to see Tank, still worried, holding a cloth down on my shoulder.

Gently but quickly now, he cut away the front of my jacket and threw the last piece of material into the pile to his left. I looked expectantly at Tank as Bobby left my line of sight again. Just as he opened his mouth, the door of the room crashed open, causing me to jump, making pain shoot through my body again. I groaned and turned my head to see Ranger walking through the door.

His mask was carefully composed as he strode towards me, quicker when he saw the additional pain in my eyes from jumping. He leaned down to me and gently touched my face, his mask falling ever so slightly for me when I leaned into his touch. His face looked so worried. Well, I figured it would if he didn't have that damn blank mask cover 90 of his face.

His face looked relieved too, seeing that I was still alive, even if I was injured. Underneath all that was an emotion that truly confused me. It looked vaguely like… guilt? Why in the world would he be guilty?

Ranger pulled me out of my thoughts as he spoke quietly to Tank, probably just loud enough for him to hear. I could barely hear it and he was less then a foot away. 'Talk.' I would have rolled my eyes at his one-word sentence but they were really feeling to heavy too.

I let them drift the tiniest bit and I immediately heard 'Babe!' and 'Steph!' being said at the same time. I snapped them open again, not even realising before that my eyes had closed completely. They both looked at me worryingly before Tank starting talking, filling Ranger in.

'She came in herself but collapsed on the driveway and me and Bobby brought her up. She was bleeding heavily under the jacket so we tried to take it off but we were unable to because it was causing too much pain. We cut of the jacket on her right arm and found that she had dislocated her shoulder.' Well, that was news for me. I don't even know when I would have done that. Explains why it was hurting so much though. In least there was no blood on that arm.

'After removing the left sleeve, we found a bullet wound to the upper arm. We immediately applied pressure, but she had already lost a lot of blood.' I was _really_ hoping that wasn't a bullet wound. I don't know what I thought it was if it wasn't, that's the great thing about ignoring things that I didn't want to think about. It could have just been broken glass, right? From the bullet holes that had completely missed me?

I phased out a bit and stopped paying attention, even when Bobby came back into sight. I just didn't have the energy to keep up. Ranger talked to Bobby for a moment but I didn't hear a thing until Ranger's mouth was at my ear. 'Babe? The bullet wound doesn't look too serious. Bobby says it ricocheted off a bone so it's bleeding heavily but it's not deep, barely beneath the skin. We're going to give you a sedative. You're in shock and we need to take out the bullet.'

My eyes were drooping again and I was more then ready to go to sleep. I looked at Ranger, and gave him a small nod, my mind too jumbled and unwilling to form the words.

I felt a hand grasp mine and Ranger leaned down to kiss the back of my hand. He nodded over my shoulder while keeping his hand intertwined with mine. I didn't look, I hated needles, but I felt the small pinch. My vision faded and I felt my grasp on Ranger's hand loosen as I gradually was released from the pulsing pain and fell into unconsciousness.

**RPOV**

I had been searching desperately for in least 30 minutes now and I couldn't find her. It was making me very nervous. Internally I felt like I was going to throw up. I was searching the streets now but still I couldn't find her.

My phone rang; startling me but I automatically leaned across for it and answered. 'Yo.'

'We got her boss. We're taking her up to the second floor now. She looks pretty beaten up, the guy must have found her, but she's alive and conscious and got herself here.'

I felt my whole body sag with relief as soon as I knew she was safe. 'Be there in 10,' I snapped into my phone, immediately doing an illegal u-turn, speeding towards my babe. I wasn't in my zone as I usually was, I was too distracted by what Bobby meant by 'beaten up'.

After a very long ten minutes, I finally beeped my way into Haywood. I didn't stop and quickly but I didn't miss the beat up brown car in clear contrast to the black that surrounded it. And I didn't miss the bullet holes and unusual redness that lingered on it.

I didn't wait for the elevator but ran up the stairs, desperate to see that my Babe was still with me. I didn't slow down, focusing on arranging my blank face so she couldn't see my fear, until I reached the door and then I flung it open in my haste to see Steph. My eyes focused on her in time to see her groan deeply, moving only her head to see the origin of the noise. God she was a mess. The cloth that Tank was holding partially blocked the wound, but I could still see that one shoulder was completely covered with blood. It seeped slowly down her arm regardless of the pressure that Tank was putting on it.

The other arm was almost as bad. It was clearly at an odd angle and deep purple, red and black bruising was covering the entire shoulder. The rest of her was cut by small bumps and bruises, but nothing else that worried me as much as both her shoulders.

I took this all in in a second and quickly made my way over to Steph, as if my being by her side could shield her from all pain and danger. Irrational when I just got a note that proved that wrong. Not wanting to hurt her but desperately wanting to touch her, to prove to myself she was really here, relatively safe in the building, I softly touched her face.

I could feel her eyes on me, trying to understand how I was feeling so I brought my face close to hers and let my mask drop enough so that she could see my worry and relief only, just enough to comfort her and assure her that I wouldn't be leaving her side. I didn't want her to know about the guilt that was eating at my stomach. I had gotten her into this situation. She was in all this pain because of _me_ and her associations with_ me_.

Her face continued to search mine. She looked somewhat confused at first and I didn't know why. Why would she be confused by what I let her see? Blood was still leaking through the cloth, though blessedly slower now. Without taking my eyes off Steph, I said quietly, 'Talk.' It seemed inappropriate to talk louder right now.

However, as I spoke, I saw my Babe's eyes flicker closed and I regretted speaking so quietly. 'Babe!' I said, trying desperately to keep her awake. I heard Tank say her name at the same time. Her blue eyes snapped back open in shock from the sudden noise. She seemed surprised that her eyes had been closed. Not a good sign. I couldn't conceal the worry from my eyes now, there was too much and I couldn't be bothered.

When we were both convinced that her eyes would remain open, Tank answered my question. I noticed that he kept his voice at a slightly louder volume than usual, gently and subtly cajoling Steph to stay awake.

'She came in herself but collapsed on the driveway and me and Bobby brought her up. She was bleeding heavily under the jacket so we tried to take it off but we were unable to because it was causing too much pain.' I heard my breath catch at that but I don't think anyone would notice. And if they did they would keep their mouths shut, even if I wasn't the boss.

'We cut of the jacket on her right arm and found that she had dislocated her shoulder.' I could have guessed that but I wish it wasn't true. It would hurt a lot after we put it back in for days after. I knew from experience it was never pleasant.

'After removing the left sleeve, we found a bullet wound to the upper arm. We immediately applied pressure, but she had already lost a lot of blood.' Damn. Bullet wounds were almost always worse then knife or glass wounds because we had to get the bullet out again. Though I had been expecting it. Steph's car left little to the imagination about her condition.

I saw my Babe's eyes glaze over and I let her faze out as long as I didn't see those beautiful eyes close. Bobby came back towards us with a whole tray full of necessary tools though it made an uncomfortable heaviness settle on my chest knowing they were going to be used on her. 'What's happening Bobby?'

Bobby's eyes flicked down to Steph and he blew out a small breath. 'The good news is that the bullet has deflected on a bone so hasn't gone all the way through her shoulder. If it had, I don't know whether I would have been able to do it here or if we'd have to risk taking her to a hospital. However, because it's done that, it's ripped through a lot of skin so it's bleeding like crazy. It also means the bullet isn't too deep so it'll be easy to get out. It's gonna need stitches after I'm finished. Once that's done I'll pop her other shoulder back into place. I'm gonna need to knock her out for all this using a sedative otherwise it's just going to be too much. She's already in shock so this will also help calm her down and get her a bit of uninterrupted rest.'

I nodded, not liking the helplessness I was feeling, that I just had to agree with Bobby and hope for the best. There were no bad guys to beat up to fix this now. Though there sure as hell were some that would be getting a visit later as soon as I found out who this mutha fucka was.

I looked down at Steph, her usually bubbly and active body strangely and chillingly still, and leaned down to speak softly in her ear. 'Babe? The bullet wound doesn't look too serious. Bobby says it ricocheted off a bone so it's bleeding heavily but it's not deep, barely beneath the skin. We're going to give you a sedative. You're in shock and we need to take out the bullet.'

Her eyes were drooping again and I could see she was on the verge of unconsciousness. She looked at me, and gave me the smallest head movement that I would guess I was meant to take as an affirmative.

Without even really meaning too, my hand reached out of its own accord and gently held hers. I bent down to softly brush my lips against the back of her hand. I looked up briefly and nodded to Bobby, giving him approval to start but not letting go of my Babe's hand.

He nodded back and stuck a needle into her arm. Immediately, I could see her eyes drooping rapidly and her grip on my hand loosen until it was limp inside mine. Her eyes completely closed and her breathing deepened as she fell into a chemical induced, welcome, sleep.

_So how did you like this chapter? I will once again ask you all to let me know your questions that may have been unanswered or were raised in this chapter. _


	10. State of Awareness

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11- State of Awareness**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters**

_**a/n thanks again for all the reviews guys! It's been great! I'm so sorry for the wait but here it is! Enjoy!**_

_A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous _

_Ingrid Bergman_

Groggily, my mind woke up and I immediately wished for sleep again. My body was heavy and dull pain was moving sluggishly through my veins. My mind was in a dazed state of awareness but my body still seemed content to sleep so I concentrated just on trying to open my eyes. I wasn't sure if I had power over my vocal cords yet but in least in my mind I let out a small sound of discontent as my heavy eyes remained closed.

Then I heard a voice at my ear that raised my spirits. 'Babe.' I struggled harder against the darkness pressing down on my eyes, trying to find the owner of the voice. It was so hard though and I was ready to give up again when I heard his voice again. 'Babe, open those beautiful blue eyes for me. I know it's hard but you gotta keep trying.'

I struggled against myself a bit longer before my eyes slowly opened. First just a crack but when I could see his face, I made them open fully. I tried to sit up but Ranger immediately pushed me down again and honestly I was glad because to my frustration it hurt when I even tried to sit up.

I blew out a sigh and looked at the man by my side. He looked haggard but a smile still lit his face when he saw my eyes open. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips against mine. I could feel my previous sluggish blood speed up at the innocent, intimate contact. He pulled away and pressed a small kiss to my temple and breathed into my ear, 'Babe.'

I smiled, hearing everything he meant in that word and feeling everything he felt in that kiss. 'Ranger,' I tried to speak but it really came out as more of a croak. He turned away for a moment and when he turned back, he had a cup of water in his hands. He put the straw to my mouth. 'Drink babe, slowly.' I took a few sips before releasing the straw. He put it back down and I tried to speak again. 'Ranger.' Satisfied to hear that it came out relatively normally, I kept speaking. 'What's the damage?' I was glad to hear that it came through strong.

Ranger looked at me for a moment and I saw that same strange look of what I _thought_ was guilt flash across his face. 'Bullet caught you on the shoulder but deflected on your bone. It was pretty easy to get out. We had to pop your shoulder back in and that'll ache for a few days. Babe, how in the world did you manage to dislocate your shoulder?'

I opened my mouth to answer but then snapped it back shut. Huh. I couldn't remember. I thought for a moment until I remembered the moment that the pain started in that shoulder. After a minute of thinking, I realised all the pain seemed to happen at the same time. Oooh I know. 'I slammed into my car when I figured something was wrong. With my luck, it's not surprising I managed to hit it at just the wrong angle.'

His eyes darkened and I saw that look go back into his eyes as he tried to turn away. I grabbed his wrist, ignoring the pain and forcing him to turn back to me if he didn't want to hurt me. He turned back, that blank face in place again. 'Stop turning away. Why do you keep looking guilty Ranger? You haven't done anything wrong.' I tried to sound forceful, make him answer me and I was rewarded by in least seeing surprise flit across his face before the blank face covered it again.

He was silent for a long moment, looking down at me and I did my best to out-stare him. After a minute of this, I knew he wasn't going to give anything away if he didn't want to so I let my annoyed face slip. I looked up at him pleadingly, hoping he would tell me why he was looking at me like that. Just as I was ready to give up, he blew out a sigh and sat back down on the bed next to me.

'I'm sorry babe. This is entirely my fault.' I looked back up at him incomprehensively, waiting for him to explain what he meant by that. He seemed to read the annoyance that had returned to my face and with a slight smile, probably at my stubbornness, he continued. 'We got a note. We don't know who from yet, but they were targeting you to get to me. I'm so sorry babe.'

I looked at him, waiting, but that seemed to be all he had to say. That's what had been eating at him? 'That's all Ranger?' He looked up at me again with that blank face still in place. I sighed. That thing was really inconvenient. How was I supposed to know how to respond to that!

'That's _not_ your fault. You can't be held responsible for the actions of every nut job that has it in for you! I'm guessing in the skip tracing business you run into a few characters like that!' He still looked at me with that blank face and I felt my annoyance building again. 'And put away that damn mask. I don't like having to respond to someone when I don't know what they're feeling!'

Suddenly I was pulled into a gentle but intense hug. I hugged back as much as I could and when he released me, he pulled me into an equally emotive kiss. It was light, not in the least demanding, similar to the first, but it still left me dizzy when he pulled back. I sat there for a minute, trying to regain myself from the strangely intimate contact. 'I'm sorry babe. You're right, the business does seem to have more then its share of crazies.' He sighed, 'I shouldn't feel responsible babe but I do.' I nodded slowly, my brain taking its time to catch up with the words.

'Ok Ranger, I can live with that,' for now, I added silently in my mind. We sat there, silent for a moment, both looking at Ranger's hand as it traced patterns on my still hand. I was about to ask what was going to happen next when my tummy let out a rather loud rumble, telling me exactly how we should proceed. I heard a light chuckle and looked up at him just in time to see him scoop me up. I squealed and he grinned at me. 'I have every right this time. It would hurt too much for you to stand up so I'm just relocating you to the food.'

At the mention of food, I shut up, more then ready to eat. Ranger walked with ease into the living room. You'd think he couldn't even feel the extra 110 pounds he was carrying in his arms. Gently, he set me down on the couch and I sunk into the warm cushions that adorned it. Yeesh… didn't this man own anything you couldn't sink into? My mind flashed back to the chest I had been previously tucked into. Ok so not a safe road to go down. I turned my mind to what was for dinner instead.

I couldn't see what he was making but its delicious scent was encircling the apartment, and my tummy let out a rumble, letting its opinion about the food be known. Just then, Ranger came back into the room, carrying two mouth-watering dishes with him. I felt saliva pool in my mouth just at the smell of it. Wow. Ranger caught the lustful expression I was sending to the plate and he grinned. 'I'm feeling jealous of a plate now babe.' I snapped my head back up to face him, blushing when I realized what he had said.

He chuckled and sat down on next to me, handing me my plate carefully, making sure I had it securely on my lap. I grabbed the fork and I speared some of the food and raised it to my mouth. My shoulder, presumably the one I had dislocated, twinged a bit at the movement, moving forward from the land of just aching. However, as soon as the food hit my tongue, I forgot about the pain from my shoulder and speared in another mouthful. It tasted even better than it smelt. I leaned back into the couch, moaning as the food's flavour explored every crevice of my mouth.

Like a whirlwind I finished my food. I looked at Ranger's plate and saw that he was barely halfway through his dinner. I looked up at him curiously, speaking at the same time. 'Ranger, why are…' I cut myself off as my eyes met his. They were black and when I thought about how much I enjoyed this dinner, I realized why. 'oh.' Ranger raised his hand and ran it through my hair. 'How's a man supposed to concentrate on his food when a beautiful woman like you is making those sounds.' I blushed and I heard Ranger laugh again.

I settled myself into the couch, waiting for him to finish. He looked calmer now, less like he was going to blow a gasket. Eventually, near the end of dinner, he caught my eye. He moved our finished meals back to the coffee table and pulled me closer to him so that his arm were around my shoulders and my head was resting on his arm.

'I want you to stay in the building babe.' I turned to him, narrowed my eyes and looked at him. Well, not so much looked at him as glared at him. 'You want me to do what?' I asked him, my voice uncharacteristically low. He sighed. 'I need you to stay here babe. I'm not going to be able to concentrate on catching this guy if I'm worried about you.'

I crossed my hands across my chest. 'You'll have to deal with it. I'm not going to let the crazies run _any part _of my life. _Any _of it Ranger.' He just looked at me, not answering and I felt my patience start to slip. 'Are _you_ going to hide Ranger. This guy isn't only after me, he's after you! Are you going to stay in the building?'

He looked at me a moment longer before answering softly. 'I want this guy off the streets babe. He's bad news and I'm not going to rely on my men to get us out of this. I need to fix this.' Right. Like his men weren't all ex-army and perfectly capable of finding one man.

I think he could sense I wasn't buying it so in a softer voice he continued. 'They're not coming after me till they get you.' That was a low blow. He knew I wouldn't want to put him in danger. It was true too. These guys wanted to use me as revenge. Ranger had to be alive for that. I could feel my resolve swaying and he could too. I saw the corner of his lips turn up. 'You wouldn't be able to go out in your condition yet anyway. I'll keep you informed every step of the way babe. But I need you to cooperate with me though.'

Damn him. It was too hard to argue with him when he was all 'logical'. I blew out an annoyed sigh. 'Fine. But I want to be very clear about how much it annoys me when you make sense.' He chuckled at that, shaking his head and drawing me back into the warm circle of his arms. I felt him press his lips to my no doubt messy hair. I turned again in his arms and pressed my lips to his. It started light but it quickly deepened with Ranger's encouragement.

Somewhere in my haze, I felt Ranger pull back and I let out a small sound of discontentment. He smiled at me and gave me a last quick kiss before carefully untangling himself from me. 'I have to go babe.' I sighed grumpily and leaned further into the couch. He swept a curl behind my ear and sighed before quickly walking out the door.

After the door closed behind him, I flopped further on the couch, noticing now from the ache that I shouldn't have crossed my arms earlier. Spotting my phone, I gingerly reached for it.

I turned on the phone and was immediately hit by too many to count texts informing me of new voicemails. Scrolling down, I could recognise most of the number from my previous adventures. Though my mother liked to use the catastrophe. However, about quarter way down I came across an 'unknown' caller. I furrowed my head in confusion. No one in the burg would put their caller ID on unknown.

Curiosity getting the better of my intention to delete all messages, I dialled to hear the voicemail. As the message started, at first all I could hear was a faint rustling. About 2 seconds into the message, when I was ready to hang up on it, when a pleasant voice came through the small speakers. Somehow, the light voice made me feel like I'd been dipped in an unidentifiable slime, partially washed in ice cold water then covered by something even ickier.

'That did _not_ quite go to plan did it? You and Ranger were not meant to be together. No matter. You're not gonna live long beautiful.' It was only on the last word that I recognised the voice and let the phone slip from my numb fingers. I really hadn't wanted another surprise this week.

_A/n Sorry for the loooong wait guys but here's your update. So guys please review. Tell me what you liked; disliked; loved; hated. I want to hear it all! As always, I ask for questions. I even send answers if it doesn't interfere too much with the plot! If it does, I just mysteriously dodge the question, but I always reply when I can and if you leave an anonymous review, I'll try to address it on my profile!! You're reviews make my day guys!_


	11. Unsettling messages

With shaking fingers, I picked up the

**Chapter 14- Unsettling messages**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters.**

_A/n so here's the next chapter- told you it wouldn't be as long… not that it really coulda considering how long it took last time… but anyway… here it is. Thanks for all the fabulous reviews guys, you're all great. _

With shaking fingers, I picked up the apartment phone, avoiding my cell like it would jump out and bite me. Quickly punching in Ranger's number, I held onto the phone like a life-line, waiting anxiously for him to pick up. I didn't have to wait long and after the second ring, a familiar and warming voice spoke over the phone. 'Yo.' Relaxing slightly at the sound of his voice, I replied, voice still slightly trembling, 'Ranger.'

Even over the phone I could practically hear his muscles tense, and his tight voice when he replied confirmed that he could hear the shake in my voice. 'Babe? What's wrong?' Taking a deep breath to try and calm myself down, I said 'I got a voicemail that I think you should listen to Ranger.' Then lowering my voice and pausing, I whispered, 'please come back to Haywood now Ranger.' Without hesitation, he responded, 'Be there in fifteen,' and hung up. Huh. If I wasn't scared for him right now I might consider being offended that he hung up on me.

**RPOV**

I can hear the fear in her voice, so I quickly reassure her that I will be there in 15 minutes. After hanging up on Steph, I quickly dialled another familiar number. 'Talk,' a voice said on the other end of the line. 'Santos. I need you to go up to 7. Steph's up there and she needs a comforting presence right now. I'll be there in 15.' Santos's voice sounded surprised as he answered, 'sure boss, will do.' I hung up then, putting the phone back into the pocket in my cargo pants.

I looked coldly down at the man on the floor, now clutching his side. I flicked my eyes to Tank and Bobby. Without having to say a word, Tank nodded at me. The same cold fury I could feel on my face was visible on his. He liked Steph too; he admired her for her strength, and the sight of her broken against her car had made my best friend almost as angry as I was.

With a final contemptuous look, I quickly swept out of the room to the SUV parked outside. I had to get back to my babe.

**SPOV**

I didn't move from my spot on the couch since I'd opened my phone. So when a knock at the door broke the silence, I jumped almost a foot in the air and off the couch to crash onto the floor. I winced at the pain as my body made loud contact with the wood floors. Hah, I did it. I found something of his I didn't want to curl against. I was brought out of my reverie as I heard the door forcefully open. I looked up in surprise to see a man. He wasn't familiar but he looked a lot like some of Ranger's other men.

That didn't, however, stop the small inkling of fear from crawling into my stomach. I looked up at him questionably, 'who are you?' He gave me a bone-melting smile before answering. 'Lester Santos. Bossman sent me up to make sure you weren't freaking out.' I gave him a smile, immediately liking the man with his play-boy attitude. Then I frowned slightly at his choice of words. 'I _was _sorta a _little_ nervous, but I wasn't _freaking out_ until you barged in on me.'

He gave me an apologetic smile, picking me up gently and placing me on the couch next to him. He was very mindful of exactly where my injuries were too, I noted. Obviously _somebody_ had been talking about me behind my back. I was trying to work up some self righteous anger, but really I was sorta flattered that he was talking about me.

I just sat there next to him, leaning on him slightly but feeling myself tense up as every minute passed. Lester seemed just as content to sit in silence. He broke the stillness of the room first squeezing my arm a little tighter as he felt my body slowly tense up. I let out a shaky breath and asked, 'When's Ranger gonna be back?'

I could feel Lester's eyes look down at me but I didn't want to meet them so I inspected my nails, waiting for a reply. After a moment, he answered, 'just 5 minutes Steph.' I nodded, fidgeting, wishing that those 5 minutes would hurry up and be over.

I felt hands masterly run circles on my upper back, carefully centring themselves as not to hit any sore spots. I felt myself relax ever so slightly but it was only a temporary relief from the stress and I quickly found myself tense back up again despite his attempts to sooth me.

Just when I decided to screw my shoulder and start pacing any way, the door opened and Ranger strode in quickly. Lester got up, the reassuring presence by my side gone. However, it was quickly filled again by Ranger and his arms quickly and gently pulled me to him and onto his lap. I sighed heavily in relief and snuggled further into him. He held me close to him, not speaking, just holding me and waiting for the tenseness to seep out of me.

**LPOV (Lester's point of view)  
**

Just as I was thinking that nothing was going to happen this shift, my phone rung. Picking it up, thanking it for interrupting the monotonous shift, I answered. 'Talk,' I said, hoping that whatever was going on would need my immediate dispatch away from the unchanging monitors.

'Santos.' Yes! It was bossman. He probably wanted me to help him get some answers from an uncooperating suspect on some case. Even surveillance would be better at this point.

'I need you to go up to 7.' Okay so not what I expected. Why would he want me up in his apartment?

'Steph's up there,' ah I understand now. I'd heard of this girl as of late. I knew that she was being targeted because of Ranger. I also knew that she was meant to be beautiful.

'She needs a comforting presence right now. I'll be there in 15.' For a moment, a very short moment, I sat in stunned silence. The boss wasn't known to be an emotional guy and this seemed like a sensitive thing to do. I recovered as quick as I could though, doing my best to mask the surprise. 'Sure boss, will do.'

I heard the dial tone answer me and I dropped the phone into my cargo pocket and grinned at Cal. 'Sorry partner, I got a more tempting offer.' He gave me a slightly sour look before returning his gaze back to the monitors.

Jumping into the elevator, I made my way up to the 7th floor. Cheerfully, I knocked on the door to the apartment. However, my cheerful attitude didn't last long. A second after I knocked, I heard a crash in the apartment. Aware of her current condition, my mind automatically jumped into overdrive, thinking of the worst case scenario. Anxious about the boss's girl, I put a shoulder to the door to open it. For now, I didn't really care about the minor damage I was doing to the door.

However, when I got into the apartment, I was met only with the sight of an annoyed, surprised and apprehensive woman. Clearly, she had fallen on the floor which was the source of the crash. She looked up at me uncertainly. 'Who are you?'

Although she was still clearly hurt from her accident, they were right to call this woman beautiful. Her hair was a wild, probably wilder than usual at the moment, mess of brunette curls. She had a classic female figure without being the stick figure that most women aspired too. And her eyes were a crystal blue that seemed to draw you in and demand your attention. I had a feeling that this woman was going to be fun.

I gave her a smile before I answered her, trying to calm her and shake loose her annoyance and apprehension. 'Lester Santos. Bossman sent me up to make sure you weren't freaking out.' I was rewarded with a soft smile. The small uplift of her lips made her look even more beautiful.

Then her lips turned downwards and her forehead creased. She didn't look angry, not really. 'I _was _sorta a _little_ nervous, but I wasn't _freaking out_ until you barged in on me.' I was laughing on the inside but I gave her a small apologetic smile. I picked her up off the ground and put her on the couch next to me, watching to make sure I didn't put any pressure on her wounds.

I felt her lean on me slightly but I felt the pressure in her muscles increase. Ranger was right about her needing someone to comfort her though I didn't know exactly what. But it was something that had Ranger practically running back from interrogating someone relating to the case. I felt her tense even more. Obviously I wasn't being a very good comforter.

I wasn't exactly trained to comfort distressed women so I just squeezed her arm slightly, trying to release some of the tension. I heard her let out a deep breath and she asked nervously, 'When's Ranger gonna be back?'

I looked down at her but she refused to meet my eyes, instead suddenly finding a keen interest in her hands. Realizing she wasn't going to return my gaze, I simply said, 'just 5 minutes Steph.' She nodded, still not looking up at me, fidgeting in her seat. What she didn't realize is that I didn't need to look in her eyes to know she was nervous.

Trying again to calm her down, I drew my hands around the uninjured area of her back and drew careful circles. I felt her relax momentarily but the effect soon subsided. I wasn't doing a very good job at calming her down and I could see her become more and more agitated.

After a few minutes, the tense silence was broken when the door was practically flung open and Ranger made his way to Steph before I could blink. However, when I did blink I felt that I had to do it a couple of times again along with a good eye rub. Cause the guy who just stormed into the room wasn't the boss I was used too. I'd heard he acted different around this woman but I thought they were over exaggerating. No way would the boss act that way about a girl.

As he replaced me on the couch, I watched his arms naturally settle around her and the way she fit in his lap. It almost looked like she was trying to hide in him. Gone was the inquisitive, logical, cold boss who would have asked questions first, comforted never. Instead he just let her lie in his embrace. For a normal guy with a 9 – 5 desk job, it might not be an abnormal sight, but with Ranger it was different. He didn't let people get this close to him. Ever. It made me feel like I was intruding on a moment not meant for my eyes. Quietly, I made my exit, trying not to disturb the embracing couple.

**SPOV**

After who know how long, I felt Ranger place a kiss to the side of my forehead. 'Babe?' I knew he wanted to know why I had wanted him back at the building so bad. Looking around, I saw my abandoned phone on the ground. Leaning away from Ranger's very muscular chest, I picked up the phone and put it between us.

Leaning back again, I rest my head against his chest and dialled to hear the message again. I put it on speakerphone and closed my eyes as the message played through the room.

'_That did not quite go to plan did it?' _I felt Ranger tense as the message started playing but I knew that he had not yet recognized the voice. He'd be tenser otherwise. _You and Ranger were not meant to be together. _Okay, without even looking at him I could feel the anger start to overtake the tension. _No matter. You're not gonna live long beautiful.' _Suddenly, Ranger was chillingly still. I wasn't even sure he was breathing. After a moment of tense silence, I turned myself in his lap, feeling my shoulders twinge from the turn.

I felt my breathe catch in my throat at the look on his face. It was one of pure, unadulterated fury. If I was at the receiving end, I'd run long and far to escape it. Even though I knew that it wasn't directed at me, I still felt my face pale slightly. I carefully climbed off his lap, shoulder twinging again bad enough that I had to grit my teeth slightly.

As soon as I was off his lap, he was off the couch and pacing furiously in front of me. I leaned back into the couch, watching as he stalked like a tiger. After a moment of doing that, he looked back at me. '_Hamos,'_ he hissed. 'That was _Hamos.'_ I swallowed and nodded, not knowing what to say, what could possibly diffuse some of his dangerously bubbling anger.

I kept my eyes on him and in a second the tide of the conversation completely changed. His eyes softened, lost their hard edge and his whole being lost some of the tension and anger and gained gentleness. Gently, he scooped me up in his arms and repositioned me on his lap again, though this time so I was facing him. I leaned back into his grasp, trusting that he had got a hold of himself.

I felt him press a kiss to my hair and heard him murmur to me, 'I'm sorry babe. I don't like knowing he's involved in this. He was bad news then. He would have matured to bigger things by now.' I took a deep breath and looked up at him with what I hoped was my brave face. 'I didn't like it either. Hence the complete panic. But in least now we know what we're dealing with.'

He gave me a smile, knowing exactly what I was doing and not being fazed by it. 'Don't try for the 'blank face' babe, it doesn't suit you. Needs more practice.' I responded by poking my tongue out at him. Childish, I know, but there's a reason it's a classic. He chuckled and pulled me tighter to him. 'This is more serious now. I don't think that Hamos wants to torture you or pull this out to be a painful experience like most stalkers do; he just wants to kill you for revenge. He's not interested in the fore play in this babe.'

I knew I should protest about the sexual discrimination and female rights, but I knew he was right and I couldn't shake the image in my mind of Hamos looking at me and telling me that that night was going to be fun. I just nodded my head, traitorous tears slipping out from the stress of everything that is happening. Ranger rubbed his thumb across my cheek, catching the falling tears. 'It's ok babe,' he whispered in my ear soothingly. And strangely, they were the most comforting words spoken all night.

I was shocked out of my semi-conscious state by the opening of the front door. I opened my eyes and lifted my head off Ranger's chest. Tank was frozen at the doorway looking at us so I smiled up at him sleepily. 'Tank. What's up?' he remained frozen for a moment longer until I heard Ranger growl, 'Tank.'

That seemed to shake him out of his reverie. 'We have a meeting in 10 minutes Ranger. We have some new information concerning the case.' I could feel Ranger stiffen at that and nod. 'Good Tank, I'll be down in a minute.'

Tank took the hint and left the apartment with a nod. Ranger's grip on me tightened momentarily before he gently moved me off his lap and onto the couch beside him. 'I gotta go babe. I want you to stay in the building, preferably in the apartment. If you wanna leave the apartment, press 3 on the apartment phone.'

I nod sulkily. I knew it was necessary but that didn't mean that I wanted to stay. Ranger grinned at my pouting face and kissed me gently before getting up and leaving.

**RPOV**

I walked into the conference room on 5 to be met by sombre faces. Mostly. Except Lester who was grinning like an idiot. He didn't say anything though. Even he knew better than that. I looked at Tank expectantly. 'What did you find out?'

Tank blew out an angry sigh. 'Not as much as we hoped. Don't think that the bastard knew as much as we thought. He didn't know the name, just got orders from a messenger. But he's made it known that he wants Stephanie dead. He doesn't care how or who. But he wants it done.' Tank's voice got a dangerous quality to it as he finished.

I felt my body stiffen as anger surged through me. But I pushed it back down and focused on the facts. 'We know who's gunning for Steph.' Everyone in the briefing froze and focused on me. 'Who?' Bobby eventually asked. I looked at Tank when I answered. 'Hamos Alvarez,' I said softly.

Tank stood up and his chair crashed to the ground. 'Tank,' I said warningly. Tank just stood there, clenching and unclenching his fists, his lips set in a tight line. The others looked somewhat confused. I sighed. 'He's from me, Tank and Steph's past. Tank will brief you later but all in all he's not a guy we want back around.'

The guys both nodded and I leaned back into my chair with a sigh. 'So, what else do we know?'

_A/n well guys I hope you liked this chapter, review me and let me know what you're thinking. I love hearing from you, your reviews make my day so keep them coming! _


	12. Bored

**Chapter 15- Bored **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters. **

_a/n I hope you guys liked the last chapter! Here's the next one so I hope you like this one! Thanks for all the reviews and patience!_

_**Previously**_

_I had no sooner gone out the doors then I was grabbed from behind. I was pulled into a chest and found myself staring into the cold eyes of the man I slapped._

'_Leave Hamos,' I heard the still unfamiliar voice say_

'_I'm not going to harm you querida' he murmured softly_

'_I know just the guy. His full name is Ricardo Carlos Mañoso'_

'_Threat?' I asked, almost redundantly. Tank nodded_

'_She came in herself but collapsed on the driveway and me and Bobby brought her up. She was bleeding heavily under the jacket so we tried to take it off but we were unable to because it was causing too much pain. We cut of the jacket on her right arm and found that she had dislocated her shoulder.'_

'_That was Hamos.'_

I was bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. I had been up in Ranger's apartment for _hours _now. Don't get me wrong, his apartment was the embodiment of comfort and tranquillity… but I had had as much peace as I could take! I was actually exhausted from watching TV all day.

Ranger had left early this morning, kissing me on the cheek, telling me breakfast was on the table and he'd be back later today and NOT to leave the building.

I had no idea how tiring lying down and watching the screen all day. I stared at the door, wishing that _anyone_ would come through it to break the monotony. I turned my gaze lazily to the dish that was on the nearby table.

I should _probably_ eat and I'm sure it was delicious, if not cold now since it'd been sitting there since 8, but I wasn't sure it was worth the walk to the table. I really was still tired from 2 days ago. I turned away disinterested, ignoring my rumbling stomach, deciding to wait for Ranger to come back around for a late afternoon snack or dinner.

It was already mid afternoon anyway so it wasn't really worth it to get up. I turned my attention back to the screen and soon found my eyes drooping shut.

****

I woke up to the clicking of a lock from the front door. I let my eyes drift open just in time to see Ranger come through the door. I sat up quickly, both because I was desperate for company as well as desperate for new information so I could get the hell out of here and back into the real world.

As soon as I stood up though, my entire vision blacked out and I fell back dizzily onto the couch. Oops, maybe I should have eaten that breakfast. I could hear buzzing in my ears to accompany the lack of vision.

Just as I felt myself on the edge of unconsciousness though, I felt warm arms envelop me dragging me back from the edge. My vision slowly cleared in time to see worried dark brown eyes looking down into my own, already with a cell phone glued to his ear, presumably talking to one of his men.

He snapped it shut as soon as it was clear that my eyes were focused back on him. 'Babe are you ok?' I could hear the buzzing between my ears fade to almost nothing so I just nodded, silently cursing myself for doing so immediately as dots danced across my eyes again for a few seconds.

As they cleared again, I saw Ranger reach down to push my hair off my face, his eyes still dancing with worry, his hand pausing on my forehead for a brief moment before moving back to push back my hair. I was relieved to see the worry that was evident in his eyes when he first came in start to dim as he watched me.

Just as I was about to say that I was fine, a knock at the door interrupted me in advance. The door was quickly then opened and I vaguely recognized the man coming through as being the man from Ranger's secret medic room.

I saw him do a quick scan of the room before coming directly over to where Ranger held me on the couch.

RPOV

I was bone tired after a fruitless day of searching and questioning. I'd been out since early morning and it was now just getting dark. I couldn't wait to just fall on the couch next to Stephanie though I wasn't looking forward to telling her that I found out next to nothing during my long day.

Hamos was being very careful. I knew he would be once he knew I was out for his blood. He must be lying very low, though, because I didn't even hear a whisper of news about him. If I hadn't heard the message myself, I may have doubted that he was even alive anymore.

But I knew his voice. I still remembered every detail of that night; from the smell of Hamos' breath to Stephanie's look of absolute terror which was the first emotion I ever saw on her expressive face. And that was his voice. I didn't know the shit he'd gotten into in the last decade, although I could definitely imagine.

I had a man running a search for it and I knew I would be ready soon. It was taking longer than usual because I had him run every search program Rangeman had for info on him. That was a lot to sort through and file into a single report. I knew that, but I was still getting impatient waiting for it.

I walked hastily through the lift, eager to get back into my apartment and as much as I tried to deny it to myself, back to Stephanie. The girl had never fully left my thoughts since I met her. I really had a lot to thank her for. If it wasn't for her entering my life, granted not under great circumstances, I may have ended up dead by now, got in too far before I realized it.

And Tank wouldn't have fared any better. He already admired Steph for her role in our lives those years ago. Still I was surprised how right it felt to have her back in my life. It felt like the last ten years were just in preparation for now, for this period of time. It felt like the last piece of the puzzle was put in place when she entered my life again. I wouldn't allow Hamos to take it away just when I got it all together.

As soon as I walked through the door, I saw Stephanie jump off the couch like it stung her at my appearance. I was initially amused at her obvious boredom. I knew I would detest to be stuck inside my apartment while the investigation was going on outside it. However, my mood quickly changed as I saw her fall, dazed, back onto the couch.

I rushed over to her side quickly, supporting her bowed head and encircling her limp body within my arms. I couldn't figure out what had happened to the girl in my arms in those few seconds when I walked in the room. I had seen the glowing excitement and curiosity in her eyes before her entire body collapsed on itself.

Not knowing the answers myself, and feeling the forgotten nausea of helplessness pushing back to the surface, I quickly snapped my cell open and pressing speed dial 3. 'Brown,' was the quick answer on the other end of the line.

I felt Stephanie twitch under my hands, starting to actively move in my arms, so I quickly informed him that he was required in my apartment ASAP. I saw Stephanie's eyes connect unswervingly with mine, encouraging me to quickly shut the cell shut after hearing Bobby's short confirmation.

After searching her eyes for a short moment, feeling my pulse slow as I saw that she didn't seem to be in any pain or danger, I asked softly, 'Babe are you ok?' She seemed to pause for a moment, as if to consider my question, probably not the best sign, before nodding. I noticed that as she nodded though, a slight frown line appeared between her eyes. Most likely shaking her head was not the wisest move after almost passing out.

I reached out to pull her hair off her face, slyly using the opportunity to check her for a fever, trying not to make direct eye contact again as I tried for subtlety. She could read me better then most and I wasn't willing to take the risk with that and worry her.

I saw Stephanie half open her mouth as if to say something but before she could the door was sharply knocked at. The door opened immediately after that and Bobby came through quickly, holding a small first aid kit in his hand. I didn't waste time on the details as to why I needed him up here so I wasn't surprised to see he came up prepared.

I saw Bobby quickly look around for a hint of why he was here and I saw his eyes rest briefly on the table before moving on. Curious, I quickly flicked my own gaze to the table and saw what stopped his gaze.

A full platter of the breakfast that was delivered to Steph this morning was still sitting where it had been left this morning. As Bobby made his way over to us, a knowing look on his face, I almost groaned.

It wouldn't have been difficult to figure out what had happened if I had just taken a moment to analyse the situation. The reason was sitting on the table, uncovered, not hidden, in plain sight. Even though Brown was careful not to show any outside emotion, I knew him well enough to see the slight smugness in his expression even if Steph couldn't see it.

He crouched down in front of Steph, moving carefully so he could look her in the eyes. He smiled slightly, making sure she was comfortable with him in the room. 'Hi Stephanie,' he started softly, 'do you remember me from a couple of nights ago?'

Clearing her throat slightly, not nodding again I noticed with approval, she replied with a small, 'yea.' I smiled into her curls as I heard her slightly uncertain tone. It made her sound so young, almost like no time had passed at all since our first meeting.

I almost wish no time had passed. That our first meeting had gone differently; that I hadn't had to leave; that Hamos had never met the fierce woman in my arms. In this entire situation, she had never backed down, every time she faced the challenge and passed with flying colours. She had even managed to escape Hamos several times.

But he was like a dog with a bone. He refused to let go; desperate now to get back at me who betrayed him as well as Steph who never succumbed to him because of fear or vulnerability.

I knew I would have to wipe the roads clean of him soon or it would be too late to reverse the damage he would inflict to countless individuals, outside of myself and Steph, who got in the way of his goal.

'Well!' I was shocked out of my thoughts by the exaggerated volume of Bobby's voice. I looked up to see a mischievous glint in his eyes as they shot to me. Damn I had just day dreamed. I haven't been that relaxed, even with people I trusted, in more years than I was willing to count.

'Steph, you wanna let me and Bossman here know why a completely untouched plate of food is sitting on the counter?' Blush covered Steph's cheeks as she realized her mistake. Bobby's eyes twinkled and he grinned widely down at Steph.

He stood up and clapped me half mockingly, half comfortingly on the back. 'Everything's fine man, but you can't just decide not to eat after an adventure like our girl here went on 2 nights ago. Stuff her full of food and there'll be no more fainting spells.'

With a wide grin still on his face, he quickly left me and Steph alone. I tried to look at Steph sternly but she wasn't paying attention to me. She was staring at the door Bobby had just walked out of. Just as I was starting to feel a twinge of jealousy, she blurted out, 'you're men are allowed to smile?'

I couldn't help myself at that. Even after my welcome home, I couldn't stop the laugh that bellowed out of me at that statement. I pulled her to me, holding her to me as I tried to stifle my laugh. I felt my mood lighten now that I knew she was fine and I knew Ella was bringing food up in a few.

SPOV

Half an hour or so after Bobby left, I was picking at the remainder of the feast that Ranger had shoved onto my plate. On the plus side, all dizziness was a past worry. However, I did now felt like I was going to throw up if I ate one more thing.

Ranger had already finished his plate, which I'm sure had about half of what was on mine. He was watching me now, cautious that I would fall out of my seat at any moment. I sighed and rolled my neck, mentally preparing myself to argue with Ranger.

It was only going to be harder after the antics of the last hour but I was hoping to turn it all around again so it was an argument _in _my favour rather than against it.

When I looked back at him, his eyebrow was cocked, his own preparation for an argument, I was sure. Damn, I was so hoping to catch him off guard.

_a/n Please please please please please review. I thrive off the reviews for this one… let me know what you thought; what was good; what was bad; and what was left unanswered! Even if you wanna say thanks for _finally _updating :) Thanks, Layla_


	13. Movement

**Chapter 16- Movement**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Janet Evanovich's characters!**

_a/n yes yes I KNOW my updating sucks… RL has been kicking my ass a little bit lately but here it is anyway, the next chapter :P enjoy all and please review!_

BPOV _(Bobby's Point of View)_

I was still feeling deeply entertained by the unRanger like moment I had just witnessed up in his apartment. It's not like the uneaten food was _hidden_. It was just sitting there on the counter. He must have walked right past to get to Stephanie, but he completely blanked on it.

Man, I'd heard of this girl having an unnatural pull on Ranger, hell even seen it in my office a few nights ago, but I'm not sure any of us understood how strong it was. Except Lester, he seemed to sorta be getting it after his babysitting session with her yesterday. And he'd talked. He was a complete girl when it came to gossiping, especially when he was the one to spill the beans.

I hadn't ever seen Ranger like that though, and I'd known him since we were in the army together, though not always. I'd been trained as a medic of another team but got transferred to his team because of the physical capability I possessed that was needed on the sorts of missions Ranger's team were assigned to. There previous guy had probably been a better medic, but they knew that wouldn't do them any good if he died first so I got traded in.

I followed him to the Rangers after that, along with Tank who I had learnt by then had known Ranger from long before the army. But I'd only learnt over the last few days exactly how.

I couldn't say I was shocked. I always knew that Ranger didn't have a sparkly clean record before he signed on, but I was surprised as to how he and Steph met. After having her around for a few more days though, it was becoming less and less surprising.

She didn't always seem to think everything through; like walking down a bad street in the early hours of the morning; or not eating all day after a major confrontation two days earlier. That didn't mean I couldn't see why Ranger was falling for the girl. I could definitely see men loving her before they even realized it. Lester would have already made the moves on her if she hadn't already been branded as the Bossman's woman.

I did my best to conceal my goofy grin, though fully intending to disclose full details about Ranger's slip up, as I made my way back into the control room.

As soon as I stepped off the elevator onto 5th floor, I felt my good humour slip as quickly as Ranger's senses had not 10 minutes earlier.

The room was silent in an absolute way that made my stomach curl and my whole body felt heavier in the stillness of the usually active control room.

Walking through quickly, I passed the mostly empty cubicles. The ones that still had people sitting in them were just as still as the rest of the floor, staring widely at nothing as if waiting for something to erupt.

Moving at a slight jog now, I can see a congregation of Rangeman outside the control room. Pushing my way through the throng that had built up, I made my way over to where Tank and Lester were grimly standing over pieces of paper that I was guessing came from the carefully opened envelope inside an evidence bag.

As I walked over to the pair, Lester's gaze met mine. There was so much hatred in that one look that I once again felt fear clench at my heart. I quickly moved next to Tank were he had the paper spread over the desk. Only when I moved so I could see I noticed it wasn't paper it was photographs. And it wasn't hard to decipher the fury evident in Lester's eyes and Tank's tense muscles.

The photos barely painted the picture of the average sized, decently furnished homely apartment it used to be. It looked like a carnage scene. Any pillow, blanket, or fabric covered surface had been slashed in a display of deadly, crazed violence. The chairs and tables had been smashed until only shards of dangerously pointy wood remained. Photo frames had been slashed at and shattered and any other imaginable appliance had been slashed and broken.

He had obviously used a knife rather than a gun to avoid attracting attention but how even her supposedly deaf neighbours didn't hear this racquet was beyond me. The last pictures, though, were the ones that made me freeze. They had clearly been stolen from the destroyed photo frames. In each one, the faces of the other people in the photo had been burned away, leaving nearly a dozen photographs of Stephanie all defiled in the same way.

Through each one, where Steph's neck should have been, was an angry slash, probably with the same knife, that slit it with precision. It never deviated, the same line appearing in photo after photo. However, it was the stain on the slash that disturbed me the most.

Almost afraid to break the silence, I asked quietly, 'Is that blood?' Tank nodded almost imperceptibly before adding, 'it hasn't been to labs yet but knowing the sick bastard he's not fooling with us. He's quite capable of killing another innocent to try to scare us into doing something stupid.'

All was quiet in the control room before Tank turned his eyes fully to me. I noticed that the usually controlled eyes were tight with just hidden emotion. 'Is Stephanie alright?' I was confused as to what he was talking about for a few seconds before remembering where I was less than 10 minutes ago.

Nodding quickly, I answered, 'just a fainting spell from skipping out on breakfast. She's fine.' I'd tell the rest of the story later. I had a feeling the humour of the situation would be lost on everyone at the moment. With a small sigh of relief from Tank, he nodded, 'thanks Bobby.' I didn't even have time to nod back before he was off towards the elevator. To inform Bossman no doubt. I sighed as I watched Tank close the elevator doors. Those two didn't seem to be able to catch a break.

RPOV

I watched Stephanie as her mind seemed to tumble to get whatever she wanted to argue into order. It didn't matter anyway, knowing as little as I did about Hamos at the moment, she wasn't getting out of here. Especially vulnerable as she was at the moment, even if she didn't want to admit to the temporary weakness.

I wanted to grin when I saw the resolved look come onto her gorgeous, though scratched, face. But I couldn't unless I wanted her to exploit my weak spot. 'Ranger I can't just stay locked up in your building forever. I'm going to go crazy if I have to spend another day like this one in here.'

I looked down at her. It would be much easier if I could get her to co-operate but I doubted in this case I could. She was proving to be quite stubborn. And my lack of progress so far wasn't exactly going to persuade her to wait it out. 'Babe, you still can't go out anyway, so why fight me on this yet? Maybe by the time you're all healed up, I'll have Hamos already taken care of.'

I doubted it would be that easy but I didn't have to talk myself down, I had a feeling Steph was going to do a fine job of that herself. She snorted and I couldn't help but grin at the unladylike action. She ignored me and asked sarcastically, 'so you made a lot of progress today then? That's why you looked _so_ happy with yourself even before I fainted on you.'

Damn. I was hoping she hadn't had time to see that look. I sighed as I got ready to argue my case. Hard considering my back up facts. I didn't know where he was. I didn't know who he was working with, if everyone. I didn't even know how dangerous he was yet. All I had accomplished so far was to spread the word for him to back off.

Suddenly a brief knock at the door interrupted before I could attempt to make my point and Tank came in without preamble, looking grim. I could feel the fight give out of Stephanie, her body slackening as she recognized the look on his face.

_a/n_ _Hope you guys enjoyed. I enjoyed writing it! Pretty exciting, I'd missed writing! So press the button and encourage me to write more!_


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